The 10 Best Things We Saw at Power to the People Fest: Recap + Photos

Power to the People, Tom Morello’s politically charged one-day music festival, was held on Saturday, October 3rd, at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

The night was filled with a wide range of musicians including the quite young (The Neighborhood Kids, The Linda Lindas) and the legendary (Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen), and a number of one-time-only collaborations.

There were plenty of great performances and moments across the nearly 10 hours of continuous music and speeches given over the show. These are the 10 best things I saw in attendance at Power to the People.

For a politics focused festival, ultimately it is the people that are most important, especially given the title of this one. The show’s audience spanned multiple generations, with young children all the way up to people in their 80s in attendance. On top of the wide spread of ages, races, and backgrounds, there was also an incredibly warm and cooperative atmosphere as well as tons of engagement with the activists and organizations on foot at the event. While it was a festival built around music, the true heart of the event wasn’t lost on anyone in attendance and all present were thoroughly involved and supportive of one another. It was beautiful.

grandson

Many artists give aesthetic nods to Rage Against the Machine but few manage to thread the needle quite so well or nail as many fine points as grandson (aka Jordan Benjamin). His backing band was tight, featuring a bassist with a fat round tone that punched just like Tim Commerford, and a guitarist who gave off that Public Enemy-meets-Sabbath vibe of Tom Morello. But most uncanny of all was grandson himself, spitting explicitly political lyrics in a tightened set with an amount of venom in his voice that is the closest we’ve come to Zack de la Rocha since, well, Denzel Curry’s impeccable cover of “Bulls on Parade.”

Jack Sabbath

It would be easy to be cynical about a cover project based on a pun, but to do so would require not knowing or witnessing the depth of real love for heavy metal felt by Jack Black. Alongside a young band of teenagers featuring Roman Morello, son of Tom Morello, and Revel Ian, son of Anthrax’s Scott Ian, the actor/comedian/Tenacious D frontman delivered a killer Ozzy vocal, performing “Mr. Crowley,” “The Wizard,” and “War Pigs,” the latter of which featured Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler himself. But perhaps most impressive was Roman Morello absolutely nailing the two iconic solos of “Mr. Crowley,” showcasing what a great young guitarist he is.

Tom Morello and Friends

Tom Morello’s set was a masterclass in packing in value for time. It featured everything from a lengthy instrumental medley of a number of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave tracks, a performance of Audioslave’s “Like a Stone” featuring Serj Tankian on vocals, and a cover of KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” with Dave Grohl on vocals. The highlight was a series of guest arrivals all adding on to one another. Chuck D and B-Real joined the stage for the track “Prophets of Rage,” then DMC for a rendition of Run-DMC’s “Tricky,” then Sen-Dog, Jack Black, and Scott Ian for a cover of the Run-DMC/Aerosmith version of “Walk This Way,” followed by Flavor Flav joining for a rousing version of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.” After the guests left the stage, Morello and his solo band, including son Roman, delivered one of the most memorable moments of the festival,  a jaw-dropping instrumental performance of RATM’s “Killing in the Name” sung by the audience. The amphitheater was shaking with the voices of the gathered who hit every inflection in a brilliant and spontaneous show of total unity.

Suns of Soundgarden

The rumored Soundgarden set featuring Taylor Momsen came to pass albeit with a twist. This time she was backed by Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and his longtime Pearl Jam bandmate Mike McCready, along with Tom Morello and Robbie Mangano. They ran through a set comprised of “Loud Love,” “Outshined,” and “Spoonman,” with Momsen giving a spellbinding vocal performance that truly honored her late musical hero Chris Cornell. Momsen’s emergence into the heavy rock sphere has been an incredible journey to watch and it seems the heavier she goes, the better she becomes.