Iconic Musicians Neil Young, Joan Baez, and Maggie Rogers to Shine at Bernie Sanders’ Los Angeles Rally
“Welcome to Berniechella,” Maggie Rogers declared to a crowd of around 36,000 as she took the stage at Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon.
For those in L.A. who couldn’t make it to Coachella this weekend, an equally star-studded event awaited them. Rogers, along with Neil Young and Joan Baez, performed at the Los Angeles stop of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Fighting Oligarchy tour, urging attendees to rise against President Donald Trump and the billionaire class backing his administration.
“We are going to make our revolution with joy,” Sanders told the audience, expressing gratitude for the musicians who performed before his speech. “We’re going to sing and dance our way to victory against hatred and divisiveness.”
The tour has also visited cities like Denver and Tempe, Arizona, with stops planned in additional locations, including Salt Lake City, Nampa, Idaho, Bakersfield, Folsom, and Missoula, Montana, in the coming days.
“We are in a moment of extraordinary danger,” Sanders warned, stating that the Trump administration is “moving us into an authoritarian form of society.”
“Mr. Trump, we are not going there,” he asserted.
Beginning at 9:30 a.m., the rally showcased artists such as Jeff Rosenstock, Indigo De Souza, Red Pears, and David Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors. Their performances were interspersed with speeches from teachers, nurses, union leaders, city council members, and congress members advocating for a range of reforms, from universal healthcare to tenant rights, protecting immigrants, and ensuring better pay for production assistants in Hollywood. The central theme, as indicated by the “Fighting Oligarchy” title, focused on addressing wealth disparity in the country.
Baez took the stage just before 1 p.m., opening with the folk anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” Cheers erupted from the crowd as she sang updated lyrics, declaring, “Ain’t gonna let no white supremacists turn me around” and “ain’t gonna let those lousy billionaires turn me around.” She continued with “There But For Fortune” and delivered a heartfelt rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Baez has been vocal about her discontent with the Trump administration, expressing last month on a popular show that “our democracy is going up in flames.”
Following her performance, Rogers kept with the rally’s theme of change, opening with “Different Kind of World” before moving into “Light On,” her hit single from her 2019 album, Heard It in a Past Life. She also performed her breakthrough single “Alaska,” and brought Baez back to the stage for a duet of Bob Dylan’s classic “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” In a traditional folk protest style, they concluded with “America The Beautiful,” with Baez adding a final verse celebrating “sisterhood from sea to shining sea.”
Neil Young closed the event before Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders took the stage. Armed with his electric guitar and harmonica, he engaged the audience in a “take America back” call and response, punctuating the chant with powerful chords. Young, who has performed at Sanders rallies in the past, expressed his concerns about the Trump administration last week, stating that he feared Trump might prevent his return to the U.S. after his upcoming European tour due to his criticism of the president.
Young kicked off with “Rainbow of Colors,” a song from 2019 featuring Crazy Horse, celebrating the diversity in the U.S. and proclaiming that “no one is going to whitewash those colors away.” He returned to the “take America back” chant as he launched into his protest anthem, “Rockin’ In the Free World.” Baez and Rogers rejoined him for the second verse, adding their voices to the rallying cry of “power to the people.”
“Thank you, folks,” Young said as he introduced AOC. “Thank you for being here this weekend, next weekend, and the week after that until we get things straight. Keep coming back.”
Stay tuned for more updates from HiCelebNews, where we bring you the latest in music and entertainment every day.
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