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Bruce Springsteen has always spoken his mind through politics and expressed it through his music. For decades, he has treated the stage as a platform for the causes he believes in — a place where songs become arguments, and performance becomes a form of public conscience. His work has long insisted that American culture and American democracy are intertwined, that the stories we tell ourselves shape the country we become. So when he steps onstage in October for the “Power to the People Festival” in Washington, D.C., it is likely that this will just be the next chapter in his lifelong effort to defend democratic values through art.

Bruce Springsteen has spent the past year making no secret of his views on the current administration, expressing them with increasing bluntness from the stage. His recent performances have shown that when he believes democracy is at risk, he does not whisper — he raises his voice. Given that history, no one should expect him to be quiet in October. So when he stepped onstage in Washington, D.C., and previewed the upcoming “Power to the People Festival,” it felt less like a surprise and more like the next verse in a long American tradition of artists using their platforms to defend democratic values.