Manhattan’s Town Hall is set to pack in the star power on Sunday night, as a sold-out crowd gathers for “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.” The roughly 90-minute show kicks off at 7:30 p.m., with organizers billing it as a people-powered celebration of free expression that just so happens to land the same night President Trump marks his 80th birthday in Washington, D.C. The program will beam out to watch parties around the country for those who cannot get a seat inside the theater.
Who's on the bill
The lineup leans heavily into big-name cred. Bette Midler, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Sasha Allen and Joy Reid are set to perform, with appearances from Jane Fonda, Julia Roberts and Lily Gladstone, among others. The event website notes that the Town Hall performance is sold out, but the show will stream to local watch parties across the country, according to Rise Up, Sing Out.
Tickets, proceeds and watching options
Tickets for the live Town Hall show were offered through Ticketmaster, and organizers say proceeds will benefit the Committee for the First Amendment. Local chapters of No Kings and Indivisible are organizing watch parties and community gatherings built around the livestream, according to Indivisible listings.
Organizers' message
Promotional materials frame the concert as an attempt to reclaim patriotism as something “inclusive, participatory, and rooted in care for one another,” urging attendees and viewers alike to “rise up, sing out, and keep organizing.” The No Kings coalition and the Committee for the First Amendment describe the event as part of a broader national mobilization aimed at centering civic action and protecting expression, per No Kings and the event site.
A night of competing spectacles
Organizers are also openly casting the Town Hall concert as counter-programming to “UFC Freedom 250,” a fight card slated for the White House South Lawn the very same evening. That event has stirred controversy over the size of a temporary octagon and the use of federal grounds for the spectacle. National reporting has laid out details of the White House card and its staging in coverage by The Independent.
How to join
New Yorkers who missed out on in-person tickets can still get in on the action by joining a local watch party or streaming the concert from home. Organizers are directing people to the event website for watch-party registration and a list of hosts. For details on community gatherings and free livestream options, visit Rise Up, Sing Out.
