Bruce Springsteen has a plan to make Donald Trump very uncomfortable before the November elections.
During his Washington, D.C. show on Wednesday, Springsteen revealed that he will be back to perform and troll Trump with a “ruckus” in October, at the newly announced “Power to the People” festival. Springsteen said that he and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello will “be back again here in D.C. on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance. The first-ever Power to the People Festival will be announced to the world tomorrow. But you’re hearing about it first, here, tonight!”
“So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people—you,” Springsteen also told the D.C. crowd on Wednesday, according to a fan video uploaded to X. “There is no one coming to save us; we’ve got to do it ourselves. So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love,” he continued, exclaiming, “Let them hear you at the f---ing White House, are you with us, Washington?!”
“We encourage you to come out and make a goddamn ruckus along with us!” he declared.
The one-day festival, which will take place at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, is billed as a nonpartisan “celebration of peace, love, justice, music and community action,” according to its website.
The festival will also celebrate “the power everyday human beings have when they come together—through music, art, community and action—to shape our country and our planet on, and beyond, Election Day,” and will feature performances from Springsteen, Dave Matthews, The Foo Fighters, The Dropkick Murphys, and more.
The news comes as Springsteen closes out his anti-Trump “Land of Hopes and Dreams” tour, which he has used to fiercely push back on the president, ICE, and MAGA at large. The tour was initially scheduled to end with the D.C. stop, but will instead conclude with a rescheduled show in Philadelphia on May 30.
The announcement also comes after E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt told The Daily Mail that security measures were increased for their tour this time around.
“It’s a very specific political theme to this tour,” he said, “and there’s been a lot of threats, death threats. Usually, there’s always some, but this time it’s been increasing.”
News of the upcoming festival contrasts with the MAGA-friendly Great American State Fair, scheduled for June 27 on the National Mall.
The festival has been promoted with lesser-known acts, some of whom haven’t had hits in decades—including Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida, country singer Martina McBride, Poison frontman Bret Michaels, Young MC, who had a hit in 1989 with “Bust a Move. Some of those have pulled out, citing objections to the event’s ties to the president.
