Bruce Springsteen is returning to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area on Saturday, March 28 to appear at a No Kings rally and perform his protest song “Streets of Minneapolis,” which he released in late January after U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot to death in Minneapolis by federal ICE agents. Springsteen performed the song live for the first time a few days after its release in an appearance at Minneapolis’ famous First Avenue club.
Springsteen’s song targets Donald Trump with lyrics referring to ICE as “Trump’s private army.” The music icon has regularly spoken out against the U.S. president, and it appears he’s not going to slow down during his upcoming tour. Springsteen announced earlier this year his “Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour” will kick off at Minneapolis’ Target Center on March 31.
“The tour is going to be political and very topical about what’s going on in the country,” Springsteen told the Minnesota Star Tribune ahead of his return to the state for the No Kings rally. “Minneapolis and St. Paul, that was the place I wanted to begin it, and I wanted to end it in Washington.”
“The E Street Band is built for hard times. It always was,” he continued. “These are the moments when I think we can be of real value and real worth to the community. These are moments that fill the band with purpose, so I try to fill the set list around those ideas.”
Springsteen noted that he’s setting out for a new tour at a time “when the country” is “critically challenged and our basic ideas and values as critically challenged.” The musician told Time magazine last fall that he continues to publicly slam Trump because “a lot of people bought into his lies.” Springsteen added that Trump should be “cosigned to the trash heap of history.”
Is the musician worried that his outspoken anti-Trump politics will lose and/or alienate a certain part of audience? “I don’t worry about it,” he told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “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. Those are the rules of my game. That’s fine with me. 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.”
Springsteen will be joined by the likes of Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers and Jane Fonda at the upcoming No Kings rally in St. Paul.
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