Springsteen's tour is a call to action

“Say something! Do something!”: Bruce Springsteen’s tour is a call to action
The "Land of Hope and Dreams" tour is a rock 'n' roll narrative about collective action in dangerous times

By Caryn Rose
Published May 28, 2026 12:00PM (EDT)


(Salon) For the last two months, Bruce Springsteen has been staging a nightly protest rally in arenas across America. “The Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour” is part revival meeting, part homecoming and also simply a fine evening of music. But it is absolutely a protest rally, whether people know it going in or not.

“Now they say they’re here to uphold the law, but they trample on our rights.

If your skin is black or brown, my friend, you can be questioned or deported on sight.

In our chants of ‘ICE out now!’…”

This is the last verse of “Streets of Minneapolis,” Springsteen’s protest song about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. When Springsteen sang “ICE out now!” during a show in Pittsburgh (as he had in the previous 15 stops on the 20-date tour), the crowd echoed it back to him. This happened in Minneapolis on opening night, this happened in Los Angeles, in Portland, OR, in Atlanta, in New York City, in Chicago. This happened everywhere, and will keep happening in upcoming shows.

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And even if there are people in the audience who don’t participate in the chant for whatever reason — they think that ICE just needs some regulation, they believe in the fantasy of “the Kavanaugh stop,” or some position outside of outright abolishing the organization — being surrounded by thousands of people yelling “ICE OUT NOW” has the opportunity to be transformative, or at least to make someone think. It is giving people a voice, and it is giving them a container in which to use that voice.

....(snip)....

But what Springsteen is actually offering is a message not just through his spoken remarks, but through a carefully constructed narrative arc using the songs that he’s written over the last 50 years, along with three carefully chosen covers: his version of Edwin Starr’s “War,” released 40 years ago; the Clash’s “Clampdown,” which first emerged on E Street when Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello filled in for Steve Van Zandt back in 2013 (this time around he’s just a delightful bonus), and Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom,” which Springsteen took firm possession of on the 1988 “Human Rights Now!” tour in support of Amnesty International. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/28/say-something-do-something-bruce-springsteens-tour-is-a-call-to-action/