Tom Morello's 'Power to the People' Festival Takes Over Merriweather Today
Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews and Bruce Springsteen headline the one-day festival in Columbia, Maryland, one month before the midterms. It's streaming free on YouTube starting at 1 p.m. ET.
Tom Morello's one-day Power to the People festival takes over Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, today. Foo Fighters and Dave Matthews are billed as headliners. Bruce Springsteen is listed as a special guest.
The bill runs deep. Joan Baez, Dropkick Murphys, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard, Taylor Momsen, Jack Black, former Soundgarden and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, the Linda Lindas, Run-DMC's Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Stephen Stills, Nathaniel Rateliff, Scott Ian and Geezer Butler are all on the lineup. Artist Shepard Fairey designed the festival poster and plays a DJ set. Performances run across two stages.
For people nowhere near Maryland, the whole thing streams free. The festival's livestream starts at 1 p.m. ET on YouTube via MS NOW, and no membership is required to watch.
What it's for
Organizers describe the event as "a celebration of peace, justice, solidarity, music, and community action," and call it non-partisan. A section called Freedom Village hosts nonprofits, advocacy groups and community partners focused on civic engagement, voter registration and mutual aid. HeadCount will be on site registering voters. A portion of all ticket proceeds, plus all net proceeds from VIP tickets, benefits VoteRiders and HeadCount.
The date is hard to miss: the festival lands exactly one month before the November midterm elections.
How it came together
Morello, the Rage Against the Machine guitarist, announced the festival in May. Springsteen revealed it onstage at Nationals Park in Washington during the closing night of his Land of Hope & Dreams tour, where Morello had been joining his band each night for nearly half of the 27-song set. From the stage, Springsteen told the crowd: "In the future we want to keep raising our voices for hope and justice together. Tom Morello and I will be back again here in D.C. on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance. We encourage you to come out and make a goddamned ruckus with us."
Morello's own statement framed it plainly: "The Power to the People festival is about freedom, justice, equality and rock and roll. It's about the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community, and action."
One note for Massachusetts readers: Dropkick Murphys, the Boston band, are on the bill.
