Launching his latest US tour in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 31, the forthcoming Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band’s upcoming trek is “going to be political”.
It was several months after the legendary musician debuted his ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ protest song during an anti-ICE concert in the city in January, and with the tour concluding in Washington, D.C. on May 27, Springsteen plans to address the turbulent political climate in the United States once he gets on stage.
In recent interview for th Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper. the superstar singer/songwriter said:
“The tour is going to be political and very topical about what’s going on in the country …” “The E Street Band is built for hard times. It always was. These are the moments when I think we can be of real value and real worth to the community …” “I don’t know of another time when the country has been as critically challenged and our basic ideas and values as critically challenged as they are right now.” “I’d have to go back to 1968 when I was 18 years old to another moment when it felt like the country was so on edge and like it felt there was simply so much at stake as far as who we are and the country we want to be and the people we want to be. It’s a critical, critical moment.”
In response to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were murdered in separate incidents at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the US city, the Boss dropped ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ in January. And putting himself in the firing line of US President Donald Trump, White House spokesman Steven Cheung previously dismissed Springsteen’s tour plans in a statement which read: “When this loser Springsteen comes back home to his own City of Ruins in his head, he’ll realize his Glory Days are behind him, and his fans have left him Out in the Street, putting him in a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out because he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain.”
Adamant that he won’t be dissuaded by White House rhetoric, the New Jersey native added:
“My job is very simple: I do what I want to do, I say what I want to say, and then people get to say what they want to say about it …” “I don’t worry about if you’re going to lose this part of your audience. I’ve always had a feeling about the position we play culturally, and I’m still deeply committed to that idea of the band. The blowback is just part of it. I’m ready for all that.”
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Takahiro Kyono