Neil Young performed two songs at Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ rally in California on Saturday 12 April. He even had some special guests.
Bernie, AOC, Neil and friends appeared at the Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles on Saturday morning.
Icon Joan Baez and Maggie Rogers joined Neil for the second song ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’. Neil also performed ‘Rainbow of Colors’.
‘Rainbow of Colors’ is a rarely performed song by Neil from his 2019 album ‘Colorado’. Neil has only previously performed the song three times in 2019. This was its fourth performance by Neil.
‘Colorado’ was the 41st studio album for Young, not counting Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Buffalo Springfeild and Archive releases. ‘Rainbow of Colors’ was released as a single on 12 September, 2019. Young dedicated the song to his long-time manager Elliot Roberts who had then recently passed away.
‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ is a popular addition to Neil Young setlists ever since Neil first performed the song on 21 February 1989.
An acoustic version of ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ opened Neil’s 19th album ‘Freedom’ in 1989. An electric version closed the album. The title came from guitarist Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro.
Sampedro told Rolling Stone in 2013, “We were going to Russia for the first time. It was a cultural exchange. They were getting us in exchange for the Russian Ballet. And it just fell through. Neil was like, ‘Damn, I really wanted to go.’ I said, ‘Me too. I guess we’ll have to keep on rockin’ in the free world.’ He was like, ‘Wow, that’s a cool line.’ Then I said it again later and he said, ‘That’s a really good phrase. I wanna use it.’
36000 supporters came out for Bernie and AOC in Los Angeles on Saturday. The average size at the felon’s rallies in 2024 was 5,600, according to Harvard University.
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