Watch: Neil Young, Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers Perform “Rockin’ in the Free World” in LA
On Saturday, April 12, artists aligned in support of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s multi-city freedom-rousing tour, Fight the Oligarchy, at Los Angeles’ Gloria Molina Grand Park. The event’s musical component brought a range of talent, including Neil Young, Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, and more, who, in addition to their hosts, drew a crowd of 36,000.
Young’s appearance reflected his longstanding commitment to social activism, a sense of irk with the man that rumbled up the right tone to tease “Rockin’ in the Free World” on multiple occasions before engaging with a crowd-fledged chant, “Take America Back.” The rallying cry gave way to a rarity from Young’s 2019 Colorado LP, “Rainbow of Colors.”
The poignant number was an apt choice considering its lyrics: “There’s a rainbow of colors/ In the old USA/ No one’s gonna whitewash/ Those colors away.” After Young’s first completed run-through, he gave the crowd what they craved, “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
Young snubbed his regulatory guitar solo during Saturday’s performance and replaced it with a harmonica interlude. Around the song’s halfway mark, Baez and Rogers joined the guitar great on the chorus while encouraging shouts of “Power to the People” and the latter, “Take America Back,” in place of the song’s proper conclusion.
Baez used her stage time earlier in the day to give weight to a series of choice numbers, beginning with an a cappella rendition of the traditional “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.” With the help of multi-instrumentalist and guitar powerhouse Greg Leisz, the pair delivered Phil Ochs’ original, “There But For Fortune,” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Rogers took the stage to assist Baez on “America the Beautiful.” The pair brought a feminine edge to their rendering, swapping the gendered lyrics “brotherhood” for “sisterhood” before the trio played Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.”
For Rogers’ independent stage time, she performed her Surrender cut, “Different Kind of World,” followed by fan favorites “Light On” and “Alaska.”
Scroll down to watch videos from Saturday’s rally in LA.
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