Bruce Springsteen already made his presence felt this year by speaking out against ICE's reign of terror in the Twin Cities, releasing the protest song "Streets Of Minneapolis," and performing it as the surprise guest at Tom Morello's protest rally. He was back at it with appearances at the Democracy Now! event in NYC last week and the No Kings rally in St. Paul on Saturday, and he's keeping that spirit going with this year's E Street Band outing, the Land Of Hope & Dreams Tour, which they're mounting "in celebration and in defense of America."
The tour kicked off Tuesday night — in Minneapolis, naturally, at the Target Center — with Morello, of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave fame, once again essentially functioning as a full member of the E Street Band as he did intermittently from 2008-2015. "I want to begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas," Springsteen began. "We pray for their safe return."
He continued, "The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock 'n' roll in dangerous times. We are here in celebration and defense of our American ideals, democracy, our Constitution, and our sacred American promise. The America that I love, the America that I've written about for 50 years, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, unison over division, and peace over war."
The band then launched into a show-opening cover of the Temptations and Edwin Starr classic "War," which Springsteen helped to re-popularize by covering it on tour in the '80s. It was his first performance of the song since 2003, when he was protesting the Iraq war. Pointedly, the band then went straight into "Born In The U.S.A." Later, there was the first E Street Band performance of "Streets Of Minneapolis." During the encore, the Boss and Morello covered hometown hero Prince's "Purple Rain" for the first time since 2016, when the world was mourning Prince's death, before wrapping up with a cover of Bob Dylan's "Chimes Of Freedom."
Springsteen delivered other speeches during the show. Here's one from before his performance of "My City In Ruins," as transcribed by Variety:
We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before. We’ve got our young men and women’s lives at risk In an unconstitutional and illegal war. This is happening now.
There are immigrants being held in detention centers around the country and being deported without due process of law to alien countries and foreign gulags. This is happening now.
Our Justice Department has completely abdicated its independence, and our attorney general, Pam Bondi, takes her marching orders straight from a corrupt White House. She prosecutes our president’s perceived enemies, covers up for his misdeeds and protects his powerful friends. This is happening now.
The richest men in America have abandoned the world’s poorest children through death and disease, through their dismantling of USAID. This is happening now.
We are abandoning NATO and the world order that’s kept us safe and at global peace for 80 years. This is happening now.
We threaten our neighbors and our allies whose sons and daughters have fought alongside us in American wars with the predatory annexation of their land. This is happening now.
Our museums are being told to whitewash American history of any unpleasant or inconvenient facts, like the full history of the brutality of slavery. You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can’t handle the truth. This is happening now.
While working Americans struggle, our president and his family enrich themselves by billions of dollars trading on the people’s office in corruption unmatched in American history. This is happening now.
This White House is destroying the American idea and our reputation around the world. To many, we are no longer looked upon as an often imperfect but strong defender of democracy standing for the global good. We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory rogue nation. That is this administration’s and this president’s legacy. This is happening now.
“Honesty, honor, humility, compassion, thoughtfulness, morality, true strength, and decency — don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore. They do. They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we are, the kind of country we’ll be leaving to our children. So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people. So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love. Are you with us?
The first 10 minutes of the show streamed officially on Springsteen's YouTube page. Check that out below along with other footage from the gig and the full setlist via setlist.fm.
SETLIST:
"War" (with Tom Morello)
"Born In The U.S.A." (with Tom Morello)
"Death To My Hometown" (with Tom Morello)
"No Surrender"
"Darkness On The Edge Of Town"
"Streets Of Minneapolis"
"The Promised Land"
"Out In The Street"
"Hungry Heart"
"Youngstown"
"Murder Incorporated"
"American Skin (41 Shots)" (with Tom Morello)
"Long Walk Home" (with Tom Morello)
"House Of A Thousand Guitars" (solo acoustic)
"My City Of Ruins"
"Because The Night"
"Wrecking Ball"
"The Rising"
"The Ghost Of Tom Joad" (with Tom Morello)
"Badlands" (with Tom Morello)
"Land Of Hope And Dreams" (with Tom Morello)
ENCORE:
"Born To Run"
"Bobby Jean"
"Dancing In The Dark"
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (with Tom Morello)
"Purple Rain" (with Tom Morello)
"Chimes Of Freedom" (with Tom Morello)
