By james art
When Gracie Abrams took the stage at a Kamala Harris rally at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., on Wednesday night (October 30), the 25-year-old singer/songwriter urged young voters to support the Harris/Waltz campaign to have still a democracy left to “fix things when it’s our turn”.
“I know that everyone who was on stage tonight and will be on stage tonight would be nowhere else for anyone else but for … the next president of the United States: the amazing, compassionate and brilliant Kamala Harris,” said Abrams. “For many of us here on the stage and in this crowd tonight, this is either the first or second time we have had the privilege of voting in a presidential election. As we know, we have inherited a world that is struggling and it is easy to feel disconnected and disillusioned. Between the intrusion of social media into our childhoods and COVID and relentlessly targeted misinformation, we’ve been through some stuff. It’s easy to get discouraged, but we know better. We know that unless we vote and keep our democracy intact, there’s nothing we can do to fix it when it’s our turn.
Abrams concluded his speech by saying of Harris, “She is the right leader at a very difficult time, and we couldn’t be luckier.”
In addition to her speech, Abrams and her band — who are currently opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour on its final North American leg — also performed “I Love You, I’m Sorry” (which just peaked at this month’s Billboard Hot 100 top 20) and “Free Now”; both are from her latest album, The secret of uswhich debuted at No. 1 on the Summer Albums Chart.
Mumford & Sons also took part in the rally, performing “Little Lion Man,” “Awake My Soul” and “I Will Wait,” their biggest hit, which peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100 in 2013. In 2021, guitarist- the band’s banjo player Winston Marshall quit the band after a controversial social media post calling right-wing provocateur Andy Ngo a “brave man” for his book Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.
Remy Wolff also took the stage performing “Cinderella” and said in a speech that America should feel like “a place where we feel safe and accepted and free.” That’s why I’m here today to support our incoming president, Kamala Harris, in her efforts to re-create that safe space for us. She understands that the right to make decisions about our own bodies is fundamental. She’s committed to tackling big issues like climate change and, like me, she’s a Bay Area girl who loves to laugh and have fun.”
Also at the music-filled rally, The National’s Aaron Dessner and Matt Berninger dedicated their song “I Need a Girl” to Harris.