Shortly after getting involved with the Sound Strike to protest SB1070, Conor Oberst, a Nebraska native, announced he’d be putting together a street festival, Concert for Equality, to raise money for Nebraska’s ACLU chapter in order to help fight a similar law that had passed in Fremont, NE.

The line up included a reuniting Desaparecidos (who hadn’t played together since 2002), Bright Eyes, Lullaby for the Working Class (who hadn’t played a show in ~11 years), Cursive, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings, David Dondero, Simon Joyner, Conchance, the Envy Corps, Vago, the So-So Sailors, Flowers Forever, and Fathr^.

The concert took place in downtown Benson, Omaha, and included an outside portion which lasted until 11PM, and then an after show, which took place next door inside the Waiting Room. Along with the bands that played there were speakers in between sets and also several booths set up with literature to educate people on the matter.

Review continues below, along with a massive photo gallery with Desaparecidos, Bright Eyes, Cursive, Lullaby for the Working Class, Gillian Welch & more.

Speakers came from the following organizations: the Sound Strike, Nebraska’s ACLU chapter, and the Appleseed. Most notably, Oberst invited a childhood friend of his, Erica Munoz, to relate an emotional personal story of hers and her family’s where she explained how her mother, after living in the US for over 20 years, tried to re enter the country legally and was then told she couldn’t apply for citizenship for another ten years and is now separated from her family.

The event ended in the Waiting Room with Oberst inviting everyone up on stage to sing David Dondero’s “Building the New Berlin Wall”, which was introduced by Oberst saying, “Don’t give up because honestly this thing is going to come up, I don’t know, most of you probably live here, but for those of you who live in other states this issue is going to come up again and again everywhere throughout the country and it’s really important that we meet every single challenge when it comes up and say to people ’this is not the America we want to live in. We believe all people are equal: it doesn’t matter what you look like, doesn’t matter how you talk, doesn’t matter what country you’re from, doesn’t matter what kind of paper you have. You’re a human being, we want you here, you belong here, we’re happy to have you with us. We’re all going to move forward with this when we get past these hateful people and we’re going to move on and live in the 21st century’. A lot of people want us to live in the past and we’re not going to live in the past, we’re going to live in the 21st century, all in this together, I love you guys, thank you.”

ACLU Nebraska | aclunebraska.org

Nebraska Appleseed | neappleseed.org