Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel made their debut at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts‘ Millennium Stage on Thursday, where they took aim at the current administration by debuting a cover of Buffalo Springfield protest anthem, “For What It’s Worth”.
As bassist Pedro Arevalo (brother of former Goose percussionist, Jeff Arevalo) introduced the song midway through their free show in Washington, D.C., he called it a unique privilege to play the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. To the passive observer, it sounded like he may have emphasized the title—and yes, he said the whole thing—a little bit harder. Maybe this was in response to President Donald Trump teasing last month that he would rename the cultural institution, the “Trump Kennedy Center…maybe in a week or so.” Or maybe we’re reading too much into things. (Under U.S. law, the Kennedy Center cannot be renamed, and the organization’s guidelines state that, after December 1983, “no additional memorials or plaques shall be designated or installed.”)
Before the song, Arevalo also introduced some of the band and where they’re from, including drummer Vincent Fossett Jr. from Los Angeles, “Where the revolution is not being televised.” Okay, definitely didn’t imagine that one. Introducing himself, Arevalo emphasized the Gulf of Mexico with enough force to raise even those with their heads dug deep in the sand. And if all of that wasn’t plain enough English, guitarist Johnny Stachela pinched the opening harmonics of “For What it’s Worth”.
Though the song’s inclusion in films like Forrest Gump, Born on the Fourth of July, and even Tropic Thunder has made it an almost cliché countercultural reference, some of the lyrics sounded eerily relevant last night. Arevalo’s utterance of “There’s a man with a gun over there” was probably somewhat accurate, as President Trump used the 1973 Home Rule Act to send the National Guard into Washington, D.C., even though violent crime in the District is at a 30-year low, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Later, the band harmonized “Step out of line, the man come and take you away” as masked ICE officials arrest immigrants and the administration fights to strip them of due process.
“For decades, The Kennedy Center has been an institution for artistic expression,” Betts told Live For Live Music via text. “We took our opportunity to play a free show for our fans in the area also as a chance to express ourselves through our music, by adopting Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth’ for the evening. We hope that those watching and listening appreciated the moment as much as we did. I think, as Americans, it’s a right and obligation to dig in and work to change things you find horribly unjust. For us, on Wednesday night, that meant singing songs at The Kennedy Center.”
Keyboardist Max Butler added (via Johnny Stachela’s social media post), “Last night, we played the Kennedy Center. We sang protest songs to rapt acclaim and listened to the stories of the boots on the ground, the staffers disgusted and dismayed at gutted budgets and gaudy gold-painted boorishness. There was a collegial defiance buzzing. A collective resolve to preserve the promotion of the free and unfettered arts, unbent to the whims of sociopathic autocrats and their whimpering sycophants.”
Watch Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel’s full performance at the Kennedy Center, with Arevalo’s introduction of “For What It’s Worth” beginning at 43:29. The band’s tour will continue this month with shows in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Find tickets and tour dates here.
Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel — Millennium Stage At John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts — Washington, D.C. — 9/3/25 — Full Video
Setlist: Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel | Millennium Stage At John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts | Washington, D.C. | 9/3/25
Set: Savannah’s Dream, Colors Fade, Blue Sky (Allman Brothers Band), Taking Time, Rivers Run, For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield) [1], Impossible Germany (Wilco), Waiting On A Song
[1] FTP