Bruce Springsteen is not quietly sitting out the midterms.
The rock legend made it clear during his Wednesday night show in Washington, D.C., that he plans to turn up the volume on Donald Trump and MAGA politics just weeks before voters head to the polls in November.
Springsteen told the crowd that he will return to the D.C. area on Oct. 3 for what he described as “another night of music and resistance” at the newly announced Power to the People Festival, a one-day event expected to bring together major artists and activists for a loud, high-profile push ahead of Election Day.
And he did not exactly sound like a man trying to keep things polite.
Springsteen said he and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello will be back for the first-ever festival, which he teased to fans before the official announcement.
“The first-ever Power to the People Festival will be announced to the world tomorrow,” Springsteen told the audience. “But you’re hearing about it first, here, tonight!”
Then he took aim at America’s political class and delivered a blunt message to the crowd.
“So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people — you,” Springsteen said, according to fan video posted on X.
“There is no one coming to save us; we’ve got to do it ourselves,” he continued. “So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.”
Then came the line that had the crowd roaring.
“Let them hear you at the f—ing White House, are you with us, Washington?!”
Springsteen urged fans to come out in October and “make a goddamn ruckus” with him.
The festival is scheduled for Oct. 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, just outside Washington. According to its website, Power to the People is being billed as a nonpartisan “celebration of peace, love, justice, music and community action.”
But the timing is impossible to ignore.
With the midterms looming, Springsteen’s return to the area puts one of Trump’s loudest celebrity critics back onstage at a politically explosive moment. The festival says it will highlight “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.”
The lineup is already stacked. Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Foo Fighters, Dropkick Murphys and other performers are expected to take the stage.
For Trump, it is another headache from an artist who has spent months making his current tour a direct rebuke of the president and his movement.
Springsteen has used his Land of Hope and Dreams tour to hammer Trump, slam ICE, and warn about what he sees as the dangers of MAGA politics. The tour had originally been expected to wrap in Washington, D.C., but will now close with a rescheduled Philadelphia show on May 30.
Springsteen has reportedly referred to Trump as “King Trump” during the tour, turning concerts into fiery political gatherings as much as rock shows.
That political edge appears to have brought a darker side as well.
E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt recently told The Daily Mail that security had been increased during the tour because of threats.
“It’s a very specific political theme to this tour,” Van Zandt said, adding that there had been “a lot of threats, death threats.”
“Usually, there’s always some,” he said. “But this time it’s been increasing.”
The Power to the People announcement also lands as Trump-world promotes its own MAGA-friendly entertainment event, the Great American State Fair, scheduled for June 27 on the National Mall.
That event has featured names including Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida, Martina McBride, Bret Michaels and Young MC. Some performers have reportedly pulled out after objections were raised over the event’s ties to Trump.
So while Trump allies try to stage their own patriotic party in the capital, Springsteen is preparing something very different: a massive anti-MAGA musical rally just outside Washington, with some of the biggest names in rock standing behind him.
For Springsteen, the message to fans was simple.
Don’t wait for someone else to fix the country.
Show up. Make noise. And make sure the White House hears it.
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Bruce Springsteen is a joke, he hasn’t been anything for a long long time, you’re washed up you piece of crap !!!!!!!!
Yes, USA goes anti-evil-Springsteen!
Good to know where to avoid 😁.
It’s gonna stink anywhere near that place!
This Elitist Socialist Springsteen has no business attacking the President of America! He must need the money to help finance these propaganda campaigns and fire up the Marxist Democrats brainwashed masses!! 🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳🇨🇳
He’s an idiot! I never thought much of him! Now I know why!!
You support Muslim (become Muslim or die according to Mohammed), illegals Palestine and Hamas extremists, killing before and after birth babies, anti Jew, anti democracy hate groups who don\’t support our government or flag. I\’ll support Trump, Non Muslim church and Jesus\’s teaching. Was Democrat for years but you are all against your parties old ideas and too hateful for me.
Springsteen is truly deranged TDS. Washed up has been and a real A-hole.