The lineup featuring Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, grandson, the Linda Lindas and Morello himself.
Even Jack Black is getting in on the action alongside a younger next-gen crew of musicians that includes Morello’s son Roman, Revel Ian, Yoyoka Soma and Hugo Weiss. Meanwhile, legendary street artist Shepard Fairey drew the event poster and will also provide a DJ set. The bill is rounded out by the Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen, former Soundgarden/Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron and Run-DMC’s Darryl “DMC McDaniels.
Springsteen announced the festival onstage Wednesday night (May 27) during the last show of his Land of Hope and Dreams tour, for which Morello has joined the musicians each night for nearly half of the 27-song set.
“In the future we want to keep raising our voices for hope and justice together. Tom Morello and I will be back again here in D.C. on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance,” he said. “We encourage you to come out and make a goddamned ruckus with us.”
As he does at every show on his Land of Hope and Dreams Tour, Springsteen joined in with a harmony on the next line: “Do you know that you can use it?”
When Springsteen reunited the E Street Band in 1999 for their first tour in over a decade, Morello was busy playing Woodstock ’99 and the first Coachella with Rage Against the Machine, and had yet to sing a note in public. At that point, Springsteen hadn’t resumed recording with the band, which left him especially determined to avoid nostalgia. So he steered clear of some of his most beloved songs, added outtakes from his then-new Tracks box set to the shows, and made a metal-adjacent rearrangement of his 1995 song “Youngstown” a centerpiece. He also wrote a new song, “Land of Hope and Dreams,” that offered a utopian vision of possibilities for his band and his nation.
“We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory, rogue nation,” Springsteen said. “Honesty, honor, humility, truth, compassion, humanity, thoughtfulness, morality, true strength and decency — don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore — they do…. So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.”
