Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will perform at the Change Rocks benefit concert for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, NY on October 16. Obama is expected be at the event.
The day before, on October 15, the final presidential debate between Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain and Obama, will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. The debate will be staged at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on the Long Island campus of the university.
Tickets for the fund-raiser are not cheap: balcony seats are going for $500, a “premiere seat” costs $2,500, and a “lounge ticket” is $10,000. This will be Obama’s last New York appearance before the election on November. During primary season, Springsteen was a vocal supporter of Obama’s but had not participated in any benefit concert until now.
Although the Obama fundraisers are claiming this will be the first joint concert by Joel and Springsteen, they both appeared together on stage at least once before in 1987, during a multi-artist benefit concert for homeless children at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Alex Conant, Republican National Committee spokesman, could not resist getting in this shot to the New York Times: “While John McCain is working to bring Republicans and Democrats together, Barack Obama was working to bring rock stars together. A good duet is no substitute for a good job.”
