Tom Morello's inaugural Power To The People festival, held last Saturday, October 3, at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, brought together a host of musicians for unique collaborations.
The festival, described by the Rage Against The Machine guitarist as a "day of peace, love, justice and music," saw Jack Black perform with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Cypress Hill, Tom Morello, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, and Anthrax’s Scott Ian, covering Aerosmith’s ‘Walk This Way’. Black also joined Morello’s son Roman, Scott Ian’s son Revel, and Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler for a rendition of ‘War Pigs’.
Foo Fighters played several of their own songs and a cover of ‘Young Man Blues’. Frontman Dave Grohl also collaborated with Morello on a cover of KISS’ ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’.
The event concluded with an all-star jam session. Bruce Springsteen began solo before being joined by Joan Baez, Tom Morello, Dave Matthews, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Dave Grohl later joined this group to perform Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’, with all performers then coming together for a final medley of Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and John Lennon’s ‘Power to the People’.
Proceeds from ticket sales, including 100 per cent of net proceeds from VIP tickets, were donated to VoteRiders and HeadCount, organisations focused on voter registration and strengthening democracy.