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Bruce Springsteen, who has long been vocal about his opposition to President Donald Trump, has made his intentions for the upcoming Land of Hope and Dreams tour with the E Street Band clear: “The tour will be political and very specific to what’s going on in the country right now.” he told the Minnesota Star Tribune in an interview published Wednesday.
“The E Street Band was made for hard times,” he said. “It always has been. These are the moments when we can really be of value to the community.”
The tour kicks off Tuesday in Minneapolis, where Springsteen premiered his song “Streets of Minneapolis” live at Tom Morello’s anti-ICE protest concert in January, and ends May 27 in Washington, D.C. Springsteen is also slated to perform Saturday at the No Kings protest in St. Paul – a move he called “hugely significant.”
Hard times, clear words
“I know of no other time when the country has been so fundamentally challenged and our fundamental ideas and values have been so fundamentally tested as now,” Springsteen told the newspaper. “I would have to go back to 1968, when I was 18, to find a moment when it felt like the country was on the rocks – like there was so much at stake: who we are, what country we want to be and what kind of people we want to be. This is a crucial, absolutely crucial moment.”
Morello will accompany Springsteen on every date of the tour. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Springsteen said Morello gave him invaluable advice while writing “Streets of Minneapolis.” “I tend to work more with nuances in my political or social songs,” said the singer-songwriter. “I never want to sound like I’m preaching from the pulpit. But as Tom said, ‘Nuance is wonderful, and sometimes you have to give it a punch.’ And that was such a moment.” He added that he was excited to have Morello on the tour because, “He always brings a certain edge to the E Street Band.”
Trump’s White House has repeatedly dismissed Springsteen’s resistance activism in recent months. In January, a White House spokeswoman said it would not comment on “Streets of Minneapolis,” a song that commemorates the fate of two American citizens killed by ICE officers in the city. “The Trump administration is … not engaging in any songs with irrelevant opinions and false information,” she said.
Springsteen’s response to criticism
When Springsteen announced the tour, another White House spokesman, Steven Cheung, responded similarly dismissively – with a surprisingly pun-filled tirade: “When that loser Springsteen returns to his own City of Ruins in his head, he’ll find that his glory days are behind him and his fans have left him out in the street, left him stuck in a Tenth Avenue freeze-out because he’s suffering from severe Trump Derangement Syndrome that’s eaten away his brain.”
Springsteen told the Star Tribune he wasn’t worried about political backlash. “My job is very simple: I do what I want to do, I say what I want to say, and then people can say what they want to say about it. … I don’t worry about losing this or that part of your audience,” he said. “I’ve always had a sense of the cultural role we play, and I remain deeply committed to this idea of the band. The headwinds are just part of it. I’m up for anything.”
Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it had co-produced a 30-second spot with Springsteen protesting an executive order Trump signed in January 2025 to amend the Constitution to no longer grant automatic citizenship to children born in the United States. The spot uses Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” The US Supreme Court will hear the legality of the executive order on April 1st.
ACLU and “Born in the USA”
“’Born in the USA’ goes to the heart of our case on the place of birth principle,” the ACLU’s executive director told Rolling Stone. “The danger and promise of this moment are embodied in this song. It fits this case, this moment perfectly.”
