{"id":701168,"date":"2026-05-29T01:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T01:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701168\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T01:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T01:10:11","slug":"bruce-springsteen-and-foo-fighters-will-headline-protest-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/701168\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters will headline protest festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Bruce Springsteen,<\/a> Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard<\/a> and Joan Baez will headline a star-studded protest festival set for the Washington, D.C., area a month before the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello<\/a> announced the festival Wednesday while performing together at Nationals Park in Washington as Springsteen winds down his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the concert Wednesday, Springsteen played many of his most political songs, including \u201cAmerican Skin (41 Shots)\u201d about a fatal police shooting and \u201cStreets of Minneapolis,\u201d<\/a> in response to the killings of Ren\u00e9e Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents. \u201cThe Gestapo tactics of this president and this administration will not stand here,\u201d Springsteen said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people: you. There is no one coming to save us. We\u2019ve got to do it ourselves,\u201d he said. \u201cSo join us and let\u2019s fight for the America that we love. Do you hear me, Washington?\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bruce<\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen, right, and the E Street Band perform during the \u201cLand of Hope and Dreams\u201d tour at Madison Square Garden on Monday, May 11, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen, right, and the E Street Band perform during the \u201cLand of Hope and Dreams\u201d tour at Madison Square Garden on Monday, May 11, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

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The one-day, two-stage Power to the People festival is set for Oct. 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and is being billed as about \u201cfreedom, justice, equality and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll.\u201d A portion of the proceeds from all ticket sales will benefit the organizations VoteRiders and HeadCount.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community and action,\u201d Morello said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re honored to bring this incredible lineup to the DC area for a day that celebrates the spirit of activism, creativity, and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival will also include Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Killer Mike, Taylor Momsen and the Linda Lindas, among others.<\/p>\n

Springsteen has long criticized President Donald Trump,<\/a> who in turn has called for a boycott of Springsteen\u2019s shows, calling him a \u201ctotal loser who spews hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom Morello, from left, Max Weinberg and Bruce Springsteen perform during the \u201cLand of Hope and Dreams\u201d tour at Madison Square Garden on Monday, May 11, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

Tom Morello, from left, Max Weinberg and Bruce Springsteen perform during the \u201cLand of Hope and Dreams\u201d tour at Madison Square Garden on Monday, May 11, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, Springsteen led the crowd in an \u201cICE out!\u201d chant, encouraging the audience to make their voices heard all the way to the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur democracy, our constitution, our rule of law are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration,\u201d said Springsteen.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod bless Alex Pretti, God bless Ren\u00e9e Good, God bless you and God bless America,\u201d he said before launching into the final song of the night, \u201cChimes of Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

___ This story has been corrected to show that Springsteen mentioned Alex Pretti before Ren\u00e9e Good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard and Joan Baez will headline a star-studded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[227979,64,63,75394,42076,447,118011,32131,9285,2490,134,341463,45335,305201,395,12445,50341,84,15392,341462,296528,21237,4899],"class_list":["post-701168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-alex-pretti","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brittany-howard","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-celebrities","tag-dave-matthews","tag-dc-wire","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-fairs-and-festivals","tag-jack-black","tag-joan-baez","tag-maryland","tag-md-state-wire","tag-minneapolis","tag-politics","tag-protests-and-demonstrations","tag-rene-good","tag-taylor-momsen","tag-tom-morello","tag-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}