Springsteen, Morello Announce Power to the People Festival
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- Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello announced the one-day Power to the People festival during a joint performance at Nationals Park in Washington DC, set for Oct. 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
- The festival celebrates 'freedom, justice, equality and rock 'n' roll,' with a portion of proceeds benefitting VoteRiders and HeadCount, two voter-registration and turnout organizations.
- Springsteen told the crowd 'The Gestapo tactics of this president and this administration will not stand here,' casting the event as a direct call for voter mobilization ahead of the midterms.
- The announced lineup includes Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard, Joan Baez, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Killer Mike, Taylor Momsen, and the Linda Lindas.
- The festival's timing lands roughly one month before the midterm elections, giving the event a narrow mobilization window.
- The announcement comes as Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, Morris Day, Young MC, and The Commodores dropped out of the White House's Freedom 250 Great American State Fair, scheduled June 25–July 10 on DC's National Mall.
Why it matters: The announcement crystallizes a split-screen cultural moment: the White House's Freedom 250 lineup is hemorrhaging acts, while Springsteen and Morello have assembled a rival roster timed weeks before the midterms. By routing proceeds to VoteRiders and HeadCount, the event pairs celebrity firepower with concrete get-out-the-vote infrastructure rather than relying on symbolic protest alone.
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