No Kings March (March 28, 2026)

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■ Musicians against I.C.E.
Musicians against I.C.E. is a series from WHM. With the recent ICE murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, it had united and inspired musicians across the glob to stand against the brutality of Donald Trump’s I.C.E.

While No Kings 3 was happening all over the country yet again, it was St. Paul, Minnesota that had been designated as the flagship site, with a number of high profile speakers and performers. But early in the day, there were multiple stages for different starting points and there were musical performers at each of them prior to marching to the Minnesota Capitol. I started at St. Paul College and worked my way down to the Capitol building, where well over 100,000 people participated.

The stage at St. Paul College was set up and performances started promptly at noon, with Emmett Doyle, getting the day started. Doyle was solo playing bouzouki and the union carpenter and activist musician started with his song Sanctuary, which hit a sweet spot of good music and topical content and was an example of how the day would go. His second song L’estaca was an English version cover of a resistance song by Lluís Llach, written in Franco regime Spain. I spoke with Doyle briefly after the set and he mentioned that the Llach song is used widely across Europe, and he is hoping to help get it more visibility here in the United States.

As the stage was being changed for the next performer, that also foreshadowed how the entire day would go: quick introductions and concise talks or performances. It was an effective strategy, as some previous events have had long-winded speakers that inadvertently took the wind out of the sails of the crowd. Not so at No Kings, as Jaedyn James was already up and appeared as a trio (vocals, trumpet/precussion, and keyboards) and started with a soulful and beautiful rendition Won’t You Be My Neighbor?. James’ last song was a cover of You Oughta Know and let James get into the vocals and had funky keyboard support.

And like that, the sound shifted across genres, as hip hop artist Sean Anonymous go going. He started with a song written in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and still sadly relevant, but also updated lyrics for ICE. (Side note: being told he shouldn’t curse made for a “crush ICE” repeated refrain which was amusing and reminded me of this comedy bit. Sean Anonymous had a pretty smooth flow with a pretty lyrical sound. The second song, Now You Know, was written for his Irish immigrant father and he had the crowd shouting along on the chorus. The Pitch had the deepest bass hits in the electronic music and as he finished up his four song set, Sean Anonymous had brought a different vibe and was a great reminder of how many musical genres have protest and activism as a critical part of their history.

Cindy Lawson brought the band (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass, saxophone, two back up vocals, and drums) and was the high energy step up with her fiery brand of activist rock. We’ve seen her a couple of times, including in March 2025. Lawson was pure fire and that full rock band sound carried over the whole space. Starting with Eat the Rich let you know right away she wouldn’t be pulling any punches, and the two back up vocalists were having fun with poster board sign in addition to their singing. (Side note: The ASL interpreters were absolutely brilliant throughout and added to the energy.) Don’t Believe the Lies continued to let the band simply rock out and it was a great reminder of Lawson’s charismatic performance style. People Have the Power was a Patti Smith cover and really had the crowd singing along, and guitar and sax work were excellent underneath the roiling lyrics. It was a perfect end for Lawson and company and the jazzed up crowd was buzzing afterwards.

As they transitioned to a set of speakers before a latter group of planned musicians, I took the gamble to walk down to the Capitol with a large set of participants, hoping to be able to get some reasonable position for viewing the big hitters. I failed spectacularly, as even the relatively early group that I traveled with were already well outside the main grassy area. There was a Jumbotron set up on the side street where we were positioned, and major props to the sound crew who made it possible for the music to be heard fairly far away in all directions. But it was difficult to clearly hear the introductions of performers and the crowd jostling as some people were leaving and many more arriving made viewing angles on the big screen hard as well. It was nice to see Venus deMars play solo on acoustic guitar and that voice carried through the entire crowd. The organizers did well to keep things moving and similar to the smaller stage, they held performers and speakers to short and efficient times, and quickly moved on if there were any issues. The crowd fed off that energy and the sheer number and diversity of signs, costumes, and generally fired up citizenry was the true measure of success of the event. When I finally made my way out of No Kings 3, it was amazing to watch how many people were still heading in and the area around the Capitol was packed to the gills. A well organized event had given the people another chance to imagine what futures (all of them without wannabe kings) are still possible.