Bruce Springsteen is proud to have been born in the U.S.A., but he’s not particularly happy with its leadership right now.
At the first show of his Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour in Manchester, England, the rock star slammed President Donald Trump’s administration from the Co-Op Live stage Wednesday (May 14). “The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll, in dangerous times,” he told his cheering crowd moments after he walked on.
“In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,” he continued, as captured in a clip filmed by a concertgoer and posted to X. “Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against the authoritarianism, and let freedom ring.”
Springsteen went on to sing the trek’s namesake song, 2001’s “Land of Hopes and Dreams,” which includes the lyrics: “Dreams will not be thwarted/ Faith will be rewarded/ Hear the steel wheels singing/ Bells of freedom ringing.”
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The Boss has long been vocal about his opposition to the sitting president. In the 2024 election, Springsteen endorsed Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris, and four years prior, he opened up about his fears surrounding the twice-impeached POTUS’ first bid for a second White House term back in the 2020 race.
“I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy,” he told The Atlantic of Trump at the time. “He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder. I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.”
At Wednesday’s show, Springsteen echoed these sentiments during a mid-show speech. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death,” he told fans before singing “My City of Ruins.”
“And in my country, they are taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers, they are rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and moral society,” he continued. “They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.”
The performance marks the first of several tour dates Springsteen and the E Street Band have scheduled this summer. After two more dates in Manchester, he’ll perform at venues in France, Spain, Germany and Italy through the beginning of July.
