Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band delivered one of the most politically charged performances of their current tour on Wednesday night at a sold-out Nationals Park in Washington DC, with the Boss urging thousands of rain-soaked fans to make their voices heard all the way to the White House. The show was planned as the closing date of Springsteen’s ‘Land of Hope and Dreams US Tour’, billed as ‘Minneapolis to Washington’, though the final show of the tour will now take place in Philadelphia on Saturday following scheduling changes.According to a concert review by The Hollywood Reporter, the night carried an unmistakable energy from the moment Springsteen took the stage in his now-trademark vest, dress shirt and tie, hair neatly coiffed.
The most talked-about moment of the night
The evening’s most electrifying moment came during ‘Streets of Minneapolis’, a song Springsteen wrote about the ICE-related passing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the subsequent resistance mounted by the citizens of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Performed live, the song transformed from a folk ballad into something far more visceral, with Springsteen opening solo acoustic before the band crashed in on the chorus.At a key moment in the final verse, Springsteen invited the crowd to chant along with the line “ICE out now!”, urging them to “Let ’em hear you in the f—in’ White House.” The crowd obliged, and at the song’s conclusion spontaneously continued the chant without any prompting from Springsteen, a moment that visibly moved many of those standing in the rain.
Springsteen’s political message throughout the show
The show opened with Springsteen’s now-familiar statement of intent that has preceded every performance on the tour. “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,” he told the crowd. “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, unity over division.“The band then launched into a cover of Edwin Starr’s Vietnam-era anthem ‘War’, positioned as “a prayer for our men and women in service overseas”, before plunging straight into ‘Born in the USA’.Prior to his gospel-informed ‘My City of Ruins’, Springsteen ran through a litany of current political transgressions, punctuating each line with the words “This is happening now.” He spoke of immigrants being detained in for-profit detention centres, including Delaney Hall in his home state of New Jersey, as well as commenting on the commandeering of the Supreme Court, the censorship of museums, distancing from NATO and the decimation of USAID.
Tom Morello’s role and the full band
Joining the 18-member E Street Band on this tour is Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave co-founder Tom Morello, who has evolved from an occasional guest to a full touring member, playing on 12 of the set’s 27 songs. Highlights included a cover of the Clash’s ‘Clampdown’ with Morello and Springsteen trading vocals, a blistering solo on ‘American Skin (41 Shots)’ and a duet on ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ that saw the two trade escalating guitar solos in a version closer to Rage Against the Machine’s celebrated cover. Longtime guitarist Nils Lofgren also shone with standout solos on ‘Youngstown’ and ‘Because the Night’, while five-decade veteran Steven Van Zandt held his position stage left throughout.
The setlist and closing song
The main set wound down with ‘Badlands’ and ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ before the band returned for ‘Born to Run’, ‘Dancing in the Dark’ and ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out’. Springsteen has closed every night of the tour with Bob Dylan’s 1964 song ‘Chimes of Freedom’, in a version inspired by the Byrds’ cover, a song he first introduced into the band’s repertoire in 1988 in the lead-up to Amnesty International’s ‘Human Rights Now!’ tour.
The ‘Power to the People’ festival announcement
Before the night was over, Springsteen made the first announcement of the ‘Power to the People’ festival, to be held outside Washington DC on October 3. The lineup includes Tom Morello, the Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, the Dropkick Murphys and more, alongside Springsteen himself.