To be clear, this article isn't going to be about politics. Sure, the Great American State Fair is being put on by the Donald Trump administration and is inherently political, and some might see that as divisive, but this is about the music involved in that event compared to the recently announced Power to the People concert.
Moreover, the organic, or non-organic, way that those events came to be. For the Great American State Fair, Trump tasked appointee Keith Krach of Freedom 250, a Trump-backed "nonprofit organization," to ask musical guests to participate.
What Krach seemingly left out, according to artists such as Bret Michaels of Poison and Martina McBride, was that the Great American State Fair was going to lean a certain way politically. He sold the event as non-partisan, but one should make no mistake: It will be partisan and held for two weeks on the National Mall.
Power to the People was always going to be much better than the Great American State Fair
This is why so many artists have withdrawn from the event, including Michaels, McBride, Young MC, the Commodores, and others. Instead of musical entertainment, Trump will now give a speech. Maybe he will do some singing too; one cannot completely rule that out.
Krach, you see, doesn't have ties to music. He was simply asking artists to play. That was his job.
The Power to the People event, however, is set up differently, and that likely means a far better experience for music lovers. The concert will be held on October 3, 2026, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The musical acts involved were curated, and this cannot be understated, by Tom Morello.
Morello is not only a fantastic guitarist and former member of Rage Against the Machine, but he is also a nominating member for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In other words, he knows his stuff, and when he calls other musicians, they know who he is. There is mutual and built-in respect.
This shows in the immense talent that is scheduled to appear at Power to the People. The list includes the Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Public Enemy, the Dropkick Murphys, Brittany Howard, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, the Linda Lindas, Taylor Momsen of the Pretty Reckless, Joan Baez, and many others.
Oh, and the special guest is some guy named Bruce Springsteen.
Will the event lean a certain way politically? Almost certainly. But the reason one should have always been planning on going to Power to the People instead of the Great American State Fair is that the people putting Power to the People together were music people making music decisions. That event is set up for success. The only issue? Tickets are already sold out.
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