Bernie Sanders’ final rally before the New Hampshire primary felt more like a music festival than a presidential campaign event, as rock bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Young the Giant played energetic sets before a crowd of hundreds at the Whittemore Center Arena at the University of New Hampshire Monday night.
At one point, at the direction of frontman Edward Sharpe, hundreds of fired-up Sanders supporters sat on the floor of the arena, arms around each other, and sang “Lean on Me” in unison before the candidate arrived to deliver his remarks, according to the Washington Examiner.
In her speech between musical acts, supermodel and actress Emily Ratajkowski took a swipe at feminist advocate Gloria Steinem, who recently suggested that young women are overwhelmingly supporting Sanders because they want to find boyfriends, and “the boys are with Bernie.”
“Just to make one thing clear: I’m here because I support Bernie Sanders… I’m not here for the boys,” the Entourage actress said.
She added that she believes in the “symbolic importance” of electing the first female president.
“But I have seen symbolism in election, symbolism that fails the people that so desperately need the action to make change,” she said. “I want my first female president to be more than a symbol. I want her to have politics that can revolutionize.”
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros debuted a new original song at the event called “Feel the Bern,” a portion of which can be heard in the video above. Sharpe reportedly jumped down into the crowd and danced and sang with attendees.
“What good is a revolution if there isn’t dancing?” he said.
Sanders reportedly arrived at the rally several hours late and focused much of his remarks on what have become the hallmarks of his insurgent campaign: income inequality, free public university tuition and women’s rights. The candidate, who leads rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state by a large margin heading into Tuesday’s vote, also urged the young college students in attendance to vote.
“Every article I read in the paper says, ‘Well, young people may come out to a concert, they may come out to a rally, but it’s really too much effort on their part to go out and vote.’ I don’t believe that!” he said in his speech, according to New Hampshire Public Radio. “I hope very much that you come out to vote. I hope that you bring your friends and family out to vote.”