There were two warm up acts. The first was Dick Siegel who's been on the local folk circuit for about 30 years. The other was Kitty Donahoe who recently performed at the September 11 memorial service at the Pentagon. On of her songs "100 Percent Chance of the Blues," was about the perils of global warming.
At 4:25 p.m. the PA system played Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed and Delivered," and signaled the crowd that what they came for was about to begin. EMU President Susan Martin wearing a green EMU sweatshirt opened the program with the assistance of the EMU Gospel Choir.
Congressman John Dingell (D-Dearborn) and Debbie Dingell, Democratic National Committeewoman, were the first political speakers. Congressman Dingell called for change: getting out of that "miserable war," fixing the nation's infrastructure, and fixing the environment and addressing climate change. He put in a plug for Congressional challengers Mark Schauer and Gary Peters and introduced Judge Diane Marie Hathaway, candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court. She called the court a "deathtrap" and a "suicide rap."
 
Organizers led the crowd in the Obama chant "Fired Up... Ready to Go," which was followed by the campaign video, "Hope." And just as the crowd got a tad bit restless, The Boss took the stage at 4:50. p.m.
He said of Ypsilanti, "I'm glad I'm here, but I don't know how to spell it" which got a chuckle from the crowd. Springsteen played eight songs over the course of almost an hour.
The set contained the following songs:
- "The Promised Land"
- "Ghost of Tom Joad"
- "Thunder Road"
- "Devils & Dust"
- "Used Cars"
- "No Surrender"
- "The Rising"
- "This Land Is Your Land"
The Boss was inspiring. He reminded everyone to go out and vote and also said that the next few weeks will get so ugly that the swift boats of '04 will look mild in comparison. Go out and do your part.
But, as he said, "this time we're winning" |
