Springsteen closed Tom Morello's Power to the People festival with an all-star jam

Tom Morello's first Power to the People festival ended on Saturday night, 3 October 2026, with the kind of finale festivals plan for and rarely land: Bruce Springsteen walking out, and a stage that kept filling up around him.

The festival was held at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Morello, the Rage Against the Machine guitarist, built it as a protest festival, pitched as a night about freedom, justice, equality and rock and roll. Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Public Enemy, Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Serj Tankian, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, Taylor Momsen and Matt Cameron were also on the bill, and the festival streamed the day free on YouTube.

The closing run

Springsteen opened alone with "Streets of Minneapolis", his recent protest song. From there the guests rotated in:

• Joan Baez joined for Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom".
• Morello and his band came on for The Clash's "Clampdown" and Springsteen's own "The Ghost of Tom Joad".
• Morello, Dave Matthews and Nathaniel Rateliff joined for Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son".
• Dave Grohl came on with Morello and Matthews for Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World".
• The day's performers closed the night together with Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and John Lennon's "Power to the People".

It is a set list that reads like a short history of American protest music, from Guthrie to Dylan to the Clash, with Springsteen's new song placed at the front of it.

The India angle

Dave Grohl has had a busy few weeks for Indian readers: Foo Fighters are confirmed for Mumbai and Bengaluru, they were on this bill, he walked out for the Springsteen jam, and we covered his surprise appearance with AC/DC at MetLife Stadium the night before. If you want to see how he plays a stage full of other people's songs, this is a good one to catch once a recording surfaces.

Why it matters

Festivals built around a cause often drift into a standard lineup with a banner behind it. This one leaned on the songs themselves, and the guests were there to play them rather than talk about them. Whether Power to the People becomes an annual date is not something the organisers have said, so treat that as open.