Bruce Springsteen used a concert at Nationals Park on May 27 to announce that he and Tom Morello will return to Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance. The first-ever Power To The People Festival will take place that Saturday at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and Springsteen told the crowd the event would be announced to the world the next day.
Morello then announced the festival onstage, setting up a one-day gathering that will stretch across two stages and mix music with activism. The lineup includes Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Springsteen, Joan Baez, Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, grandson, The Neighborhood Kids, Taylor Momsen, Matt Cameron, The Linda Lindas, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Morello, along with artwork and a DJ set by Shepard Fairey. The festival is being billed as a non-partisan celebration of peace, justice, solidarity, music and community action.
Tickets go on pre-sale Friday, May 29 at 10 a.m. ET, with the general on-sale starting Saturday, May 30 at 10 a.m. ET. Springsteen said, “In the future, we want to keep raising our voices for hope and justice, together,” before telling fans, “Tom Morello and I will be back again here in D.C. on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance.” He added that more artists would join them and urged the crowd to “come out and make a goddamn ruckus along with us.”
The timing matters because Morello is already on the road with Springsteen and the E Street Band, and the current tour was set to end May 30 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. By moving from a standard tour stop to a branded festival with a civic message, the pair is turning a concert announcement into something bigger than one more date on a schedule. The event’s Freedom Village area will bring in nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, artists and community partners to highlight civic engagement, grassroots organizing, education, mutual aid and social impact initiatives.
Morello said the Power To The People festival is about “freedom, justice, equality and rock and roll,” and about “the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community, and action.” That is the central promise of the day in Columbia: not just a bill of performers, but a public rally built around music and participation. The test on Oct. 3 will be whether the festival can turn that message into a crowd as loud as the one Springsteen heard in Washington.
