Senator Bernie Sanders teamed up with artists from across the musical spectrum in Los Angeles on Saturday, first drawing the largest crowd yet on his Fighting Oligarchy tour with special guests Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Neil Young, Maggie Rogers, Joan Baez, and more, and then later making a surprise appearance at Coachella, where he spoke to thousands more while introducing Clairo.

Bernie started the day by galvanizing a crowd of 36,000 at a star-studded rally in downtown L.A., which was free and open to the public. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., the program featured a number of grassroots leaders and musical performances by Dirty Projectors, Jeff Rosenstock, Indigo De Souza, The Red Pears, and Raise Gospel Choir.

The event culminated with the evening’s “headliners,” starting a series of brief, cross-pollinating sets by Baez, Rogers, and Young. Baez started out with an a capella rendition of “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”, with ad-libbed lyrics against “hate and bigotry,” “white supremacy,” and “lousy billionaires.” She then welcomed Greg Leisz to join on guitar for “There but for Fortune” and John Lennon‘s “Imagine”.

Maggie Rogers invited Baez back up at the end of her own set, and the duo performed “America the Beautiful” and Bob Dylan‘s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”. They both returned at the end of Neil Young’s solo performance to join in on “Rockin’ in the Free World”.

AOC then addressed the crowd before turning the podium over to Bernie, who delivered a passionate speech centered around economic justice and the threat of rising oligarchy in America.

Sanders challenged Trump to defend policies like cutting Medicaid and nutrition programs in front of everyday Americans, accusing him of serving billionaires over working people. He condemned the concentration of wealth and power among a few billionaires—specifically naming Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg—and asserted that we are already living in an oligarchy. He criticized both Republicans and Democrats for bowing to corporate interests and called for overturning Citizens United, implementing publicly funded elections, and ending the corrupt campaign finance system.

The entire rally is available to stream below.

Bernie Sanders Fighting Oligarchy Rally – 4/12/25

After all that, Bernie still made it over to Coachella, which had over 100,000 attendees. Introducing Clairo, he thanked the singer-songwriter for using her platform to express her views on important issues and encouraged the crowd to engage in the fight for justice.

“This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation,” he said. “Now, you can turn away and you can ignore what goes on but if you do that, you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up, to fight for justice. To fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”

Bernie Sanders At Coachella

Bernie’s Fighting Oligarchy tour continues with stops in Salt Lake City (4/13), Nampa, ID (4/14), Bakersfield, CA (4/15), Folsom, CA (4/15), and Missoula, MT (4/16), all featuring special guest speaker Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Find more information and RSVP for free here.