It’s said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it vote in a democratic election. And, in Illinois, you might you not even be allowed to make that trip with your equine, i.e., hundreds of concertgoers. (Yes, this post is about the election, but we only have one more day! Or four more years.)
Complex reports that on Monday night, Chicago artist Chance The Rapper was joined by local garage rockers Twin Peaks at a free concert that culminated in an earnest plea to younger people (or the dread “millennials”) to get out and vote. The event was organized by Chance The Rapper via his non-profit organization, Social Works. Fans gathered at Grant Park for the performances, after which Chance The Rapper led hundreds of them on a “Parade To The Polls.”
The group made its way through rush-hour traffic to a downtown voting supersite, where Chance himself voted.
This was classic Chance, working in something uplifting with his rhymes. Despite his passion for performing his civic duties, WBEZ reports that many concertgoers left the group before it reached its final destination. So it might not be quite the political engagement triumph that the Chicago artist was going for. But it still caused a stir among Illinois election officials, who told WBEZ that the event was in “murky” waters—it seems you can’t influence people to vote at all, or even register (so much for those celebrity PSAs, we guess). The concert itself isn’t in question; it’s the march to the polls. That’s reportedly one of the reasons why some people ultimately ditched the group. Did we mention that the election is almost over?