Curated by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, the inaugural Power to the People Festival took place on Saturday, October 3, 2026, across the wooded grounds of Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Staged just outside Washington, D.C., the sold-out, single-day benefit brought together tens of thousands of music fans and dozens of legendary artists spanning hard rock, punk, hip-hop, and folk for more than nine hours of continuous live music and civic activism. The festival was organized around two distinct performance spaces—the main Pavilion Stage and the secondary Chrysalis Stage—which alternated performances with near-military precision, ensuring that as soon as one act finished, the next fired up across the park. Along the concourse, the nonprofit “Freedom Village” hosted community organizers, union representatives, and voter registration drives with HeadCount and VoteRiders, anchoring the event’s musical firepower to real-world grassroots mobilization.
The afternoon kicked off on the Chrysalis Stage with rising rock outfit The Neighborhood Kids, whose aggressive opening set established a tone of youthful, working-class frustration.
Action then shifted over to the Pavilion Stage for The Last Internationale, where frontwoman Delila Paz commanded the pavilion with blistering slide guitar, soulful hard rock, and sharp political commentary during anthemic cuts like “Hard Times” and MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams”.
State Radio followed on the Chrysalis Stage, bringing their signature mix of roots rock, reggae rhythms, and anti-war advocacy.
Grandson immediately answered back on the Pavilion Stage, delivering a fierce, politically charged barrage punctuated by a venomous vocal cadence that critics singled out as one of the most intense vocal performances of the afternoon.
Over at the Chrysalis Stage, Los Angeles punk quartet The Linda Lindas tore through a kinetic, infectious set that proved the next generation is carrying the punk-rock mantle forward with razor-sharp precision.
Jack Black stepped onto the Pavilion Stage next fronting “Jack Sabbath,” flanked by an ensemble of young virtuosos including Yoyoka Soma on drums, bassist Revel Ian, keyboardist Hugo Weiss, and Tom Morello’s thirteen-year-old son, Roman Morello. The set exploded with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley,” where Roman Morello drew cheers by ripping through Randy Rhoads’ iconic, intricate solos note-for-note. Black broke out a harmonica for Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard,” before legendary bassist Geezer Butler made a surprise entrance to help the band power through an authoritative rendition of “War Pigs”.
Over on the Chrysalis Stage, hip-hop heavyweight Killer Mike took the microphone for a sermon of urgent rhymes and impassioned stage banter, imploring the crowd to channel their collective outrage into local accountability and direct community action.
The Pavilion Stage shifted gears as West Coast legends Cypress Hill rolled through heavy basslines and hip-hop classics, including “Insane in the Brain” and “How I Could Just Kill a Man,” with B-Real and Sen Dog commanding the stage.
Meanwhile, Nathaniel Rateliff brought rootsy, soulful rock to the Chrysalis Stage, bridging the gap between afternoon hip-hop and evening rock.
Morello then launched his dedicated hour-long “Freedom Jam” on the Pavilion Stage. The set functioned as a blistering tribute to protest rock, running through Rage Against the Machine staples like “Bombtrack,” “Guerilla Radio,” and “Killing in the Name” alongside appearances from Flavor Flav, Chuck D, and System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, who joined Morello for “Adjourn It” and an emotional reading of Audioslave’s “Like a Stone”.
The loudest surprise of the evening arrived on the Pavilion Stage with the “Soundgarden All-Stars”. Featuring Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, Morello on rhythm guitar, bassist Robbie Mangano, and The Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen on lead vocals, the supergroup tore through a thunderous set honoring Chris Cornell. Momsen’s gritty, full-throttle vocal delivery soared over McCready’s blistering solos on “Loud Love,” traded riff charges on “Outshined,” and locked into Cameron’s signature polyrhythmic wallop on “Spoonman”.
As the grunge tribute wrapped up, hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy took over the Chrysalis Stage, turning the wooded side stage into an electrifying block party fueled by “Fight the Power” and “Don’t Believe the Hype”.
Dave Matthews then commanded the Pavilion Stage for a set that started stripped-down with solo acoustic renditions of “Peace on Earth” and “So Damn Lucky”. Matthews brought out backing vocalist Cindy Mizelle for Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” before welcoming folk pioneer Joan Baez and Nathaniel Rateliff for Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)”. Baez then led the venue in the civil rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” followed by Stephen Stills stepping out to perform Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” alongside Matthews.
Over on the Chrysalis Stage, Dropkick Murphys closed out the second stage with fierce Celtic-punk union solidarity, tearing through working-class anthems like “Worker’s Song” and “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”.
Foo Fighters took over the Pavilion Stage next for a relentless performance, with Dave Grohl driving the band through high-octane crowd-pleasers like “All My Life,” “The Pretender,” “My Hero,” and “Everlong”.
Bruce Springsteen followed on the main stage, opening solo on acoustic guitar with his urgent, unreleased protest track “Streets of Minneapolis”. Joan Baez walked out to join Springsteen for a moving duet on Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom,” before Morello’s backing band plugged in to back The Boss on a fierce electric rendition of The Clash’s “Clampdown” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad”. The set peaked with Springsteen, Morello, Matthews, and Rateliff trading verses on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” followed by an explosive cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World”.
The night concluded with the All-Star Finale, bringing nearly every musician on the bill back onto the Pavilion Stage. With Springsteen, Baez, Grohl, Morello, Matthews, Momsen, and Rateliff sharing vocal microphones and guitars, the massive ensemble united tens of thousands of fans in a rousing singalong of John Lennon’s “Power to the People”. Seamlessly alternating across two stages from the afternoon openers to the headlining anthems, the marathon event proved to be an unforgettable showcase of cross-genre unity, generational talent, and the enduring power of American protest music.
