CLARKSTON, Ga. ― A DJ spun banger after banger. President Barack Obama warmed up the crowd. Rock legend Bruce Springsteen sang and played guitar. And Kamala Harris played lead vocals at a packed college football field in the Atlanta suburbs on Thursday, firing up thousands of people into a joyous frenzy just days before the November presidential election in one of the country’s most crucial swing states.

Harris supporters sang, danced and swag surfed along to soul and hip-hop jams at her first rally featuring a musical performance, a day before none other than superstar Beyoncé is set to headline another event for the vice president in Texas. Top celebrities, including Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, also spoke on her behalf as the smell of barbecue and Mexican burritos wafted out from half a dozen food trucks parked on the football field.

“We know how to throw a party,” Atlanta native Angelina Noble, 61, said as she grooved along to the music in the hot sun awaiting the show to begin.

Thursday’s rally couldn’t have sounded more different from a typical Donald Trump event, where dark and racist rhetoric is often paired with joyful anthems like ‘Y.M.C.A.’ by the Village People and where the GOP presidential nominee himself sometimes does nothing but sway and dance onstage, as he did for 40 minutes during a strange town hall earlier this month in Pennsylvania. His playlist was tuned to a much older generation and included songs like Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” and others from Sinead O’Connor, Elvis Presley and Guns N’ Roses.

But Trump is also amping up the theatrics in the closing days of the race, including speaking at a packed rally in nearby Duluth, Georgia, on Wednesday night that featured country music star Jason Aldean, a pyrotechnic display and concert lighting. And his campaign has announced a rally at New York City’s legendary Madison Square Garden this weekend, where special guests are expected as well.

Still, the celebrity-filled rally shows how Democrats, in the closing weeks of an ultra-tight presidential race where Georgia and six other states remain up for grabs, are trying to counter Trump’s raucous rallies in a way they simply did not in 2020, when they had an older candidate in now-President Joe Biden, and many liberal voters were wary of the coronavirus pandemic and did not want to gather in large crowds.

It wasn’t all fun at Harris’ rally on Thursday, however. The program was full of dire warnings about a potential second Trump term and mentions of what his former aides and top generals have said in recent weeks about their former boss, including that he fits the mold of a fascist who praised Adolf Hitler’s generals and who denigrates service members as suckers and losers.

“Trump is running to be an American tyrant,” Springsteen warned between solo renditions of “The Promised Land” and “Dancing in the Dark.”

Harris ticked off a long list of Trump’s misdeeds and said that he has become “more confused, more unstable, and more angry every day.”

“He has become increasingly unhinged,” she added. “Last time at least there were people around him who could control him. They’re not with him this time. Just this week America heard from John Kelly, a retired general and one of Trump’s chiefs of staff, who said that as president, Trump praised Adolf Hitler. That Trump said Hitler ‘did some good things.’”

“This is not 2016 again and it’s not 2020,” she added, prompting one man in the crowd to scream “fascist.”

Obama, meanwhile, took aim at Black men in a nod to some polls suggesting lower enthusiasm among Black voters in this election compared with his own presidential campaign.

“People who think Trump’s behavior is somehow a sign of strength, I’m here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. It never has been,” Obama said to a roar from the crowd. “Real strength is about helping people who need it, and standing up to those who can’t always stand up for themselves.”

The former president questioned Trump’s competence as he did at a rally for Harris in Madison, Wisconsin, earlier this week, where he mocked his successor for swaying at his musical town hall in Pennsylvania. “You’d be worried if grandpa was acting like this,” Obama said Thursday.

Addressing Trump’s reported praise for the German dictator, he said, “A good rule of thumb is: Don’t say you want to do anything like Hitler.”

There does appear to be some strategy to the fun. The Harris campaign has done extensive research into what celebrities and politicians are best positioned to deliver the campaign’s closing arguments to different demographics. A survey from Blueprint, a centrist Democratic group, found that Jackson ― who shared that he and Harris share the same favorite swear word ― was the most-liked celebrity among male registered voters.

“Her favorite curse word is a favorite of mine, too,” the actor said. “I ain’t gonna say that word,” he added playfully, eliciting a round of laughter from the crowd. “I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of president I can stand behind,” he added.

Rallygoers expressed cautious optimism about Harris’ chances in Georgia, which flipped blue, for President Joe Biden, in 2020 for the first time in decades, saying they hoped America would side with good morals and character in this election.

“He’s always magical for me,” Noble said of Obama. “I didn’t vote for him just because he was Black. I voted for him because he showed me good character and good leadership. And that’s also why I’m voting for Kamala.”

Tanika Vincent, a Spanish teacher from Atlanta, told HuffPost she felt invigorated by Harris’ event, which was her first-ever political rally.

“Of course, the celebrity star power was top-notch, but what I loved was the message of inclusivity and just getting back to common sense in America,” Vincent said.

“Like, I can’t say that I was the biggest Kamala Harris fan, but what I’m not a fan of is fascism,” she added. “Even if you don’t like her, if you don’t like Tim Walz, if you don’t like Black women ― whatever, you can’t be an American and stand for fascism.”