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San Diego musicians will join Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez at all-star Power to the People fest

George Varga, The San Diego Union-Tribune on

Published in Entertainment News

SAN DIEGO — San Diego will be triply represented at the all-star Power to the People festival Oct. 3 at Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, just outside Washington, D.C, which will be headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, Cypress Hill and Foo Fighters, whose new drummer is San Diego native Ilan Rubin.

The lineup for the festival, which is being billed as “a day of love, peace, justice and music,” was curated by guitarist and Rage Against the Machine band co-founder Tom Morello. Additional featured artists include Jack Black, Brittany Howard, Killer Mike, Run DMC co-founder Darryl “DMC” Williams, a DJ set by Shepard Fairey, Dropkick Murphys, the Linda Lindas, System of a Down singer Serj Tankian, Taylor Momsen, Grandson, 2026 San Diego Music Awards Best Hip-Hop/Rap Song-winners the Neighborhood Kids and San Diego native Matt Cameron, who last year stepped down as the drummer in Pearl Jam after a 27-year run.

Cameron, 63, and fellow drum ace Rubin, 37, are both Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honorees. Rubin was inducted as a member of Nine Inch Nails in 2020, when he became the youngest inductee in the hall’s history. Cameron was inducted last year as a member of Soundgarden, the band he played in prior to joining Pearl Jam in 1998. He was first inducted into the hall as a member of Pearl Jam in 2017.

Morello will also perform at the day-long Power to the People, which he describes as a “non-partisan celebration of peace, justice, solidarity, music, and community action” that will feature “intimate, collaborative and special performances.”

The San Diego hip-hop group the Neighborhood Kids have been a favorite of Morello’s since last year, when he featured them at his Los Angeles concert Defend L.A., a fundraiser for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. The Neighborhood Kids’ new album, “Voice of the Revolution,” was released in April.

The full Power to the People festival lineup was unveiled Thursday. But a preliminary announcement of Power to the People was made by Springsteen and Morello during Springsteen’s Wednesday night concert with his E Street Band at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., where Morello performed on more than half the songs.

“Our 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,” Springsteen — an outspoken adversary of President Donald Trump — said from the stage Wednesday.

 

The timing of the Oct. 3 Power to the People festival, which will take place barely a month before the midterm congressional elections, does not appear to be coincidental.

“The Power To The People festival is about freedom, justice, equality and rock and roll,” Morello said in a statement released Thursday. “It’s about the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community, and action. We’re honored to bring this incredible lineup to the DC area for a day that celebrates the spirit of activism, creativity, and hope.”

A ticket presale will begin Friday, May 29, at 7 a.m. PST at powertothepeoplefest.com and ticketmaster.com, followed by a general on-sale that begins Saturday at 7 a.m. PST. Ticket prices range from $125 for lawn seating, $225 for seating in the pavilion and $375 for VIP ticket packages.

A portion of the proceeds from all ticket sales and 10% of the net proceeds from VIP tickets will be donated to VoteRiders, a pro-democracy, pro-voter organization that is working to restore and strengthen democracy by eliminating confusing and restrictive ID-related barriers for voters, and HeadCount, which helps people register to vote and to learn more about how they can participate in upcoming elections.

The formal announcement Thursday of Power to the People comes one day after the announcement of the first wave of performers for the Great American State Fair, a 16-day event that will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between June 25 and July 10. It is being presented under the auspices of the Trump-launched organization Freedom 250.

The lineup announced Wednesday for the Great American State Fair includes Martina McBride, Vanilla Ice, Young MC, Morris Day & the Time, Milli Vanilli, Bret Michaels, the Commodores, C+C Music Factory and Flo Rida. However, by Thursday at least three of those acts — Day, Young MC and C+C Music Factory — had issued public statements that they will not perform at the fair.


©2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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