The crowd at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall cheered in support for what seemed to be a clear reference to late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air amid threats by the Trump administration.
“So, it’s in that spirit that I brought along my lifelong weapon of choice: the guitar,” he said.
Then he began playing Land of Hope and Dreams.
For decades, Springsteen sang about the struggles of the working class but largely stayed out of electoral politics. He has stumped for Democratic presidential candidates since John F Kerry in 2004, but the arrival of President Donald Trump has brought a new intensity to the 76-year-old musician’s message.
In June 2018, he used a performance of Springsteen on Broadway to speak out against the Trump administration’s “inhumane” treatment of thousands of children separated from their families at the border, the Guardian reported. In an Esquire magazine interview later that year, he called Trump “deeply damaged to his core”. He also campaigned for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.
This year in Manchester, England, at the May launch of his European tour with the E Street Band, he spoke out again.
“In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,” he said. “Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American spirit to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”
Introducing My City of Ruins, he referenced US DOGE Service cuts and ICE deportations, saying, “In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
He added that the majority of elected representatives “have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government”. Later in the set, he dedicated his 2020 song Rainmaker – which he said is about people in a drought, desperate for relief – to “our dear leader”.
Trump, in turn, called Springsteen “highly overrated” in a social media post and said he never liked his music. He also implied that there would be consequences for Springsteen once he returned to the United States.
But in a September 25 interview with Time magazine, Springsteen quipped: “I absolutely couldn’t care less what he thinks about me.”
The musician also issued new missives. “He’s the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for,” he told Time of Trump. “If Congress had any guts, he’d be consigned to the trash heap of history.”
Springsteen criticised the Trump administration and urged people to fight for hope and democracy. Photo / The Washington Post
Springsteen likewise had sharp criticism for the Democrats. “We’re desperately in need of an effective alternative party, or for the Democratic Party to find someone who can speak to the majority of the nation,” he said. “There is a problem with the language that they’re using and the way they’re trying to reach people.”
Springsteen has been in the news making the rounds for weeks in support of the film, written and directed by Scott Cooper (of Crazy Heart). It made its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival but this was its first screening for a wider audience. He praised White for “putting his heart and soul into the part and for playing a much better looking version of me”.
Springsteen also thanked Jeremy Strong, who played “a much, much better-looking version” of Jon Landau, the musician’s friend and manager for more than 50 years, who Springsteen said would call at all hours of the night with questions and to throw out ideas.
The film includes flashbacks of Springsteen’s difficult childhood with his father, Douglas Frederick “Dutch” Springsteen, a bus driver played by Stephen Graham of Adolescent, who was an alcoholic and struggled with mental health issues. Springsteen thanked Graham for “being the living embodiment of my late father, who had a difficult life but was a good-hearted man”. Gaby Hoffman portrays his mother, Adele Ann, who had worked as a legal secretary.
“They’re all gone now, so it’s nice to have this piece of film,” he said.
He gave a special thanks to American Gigolo director Paul Schrader, who was also in attendance. Schrader famously sent Springsteen the script for a movie he had titled Born in the USA, which the musician took some pretty obvious inspiration from to write the song that catapulted him to superstardom.
“I don’t know where the f*** any of us would be without Paul Schrader,” said Springsteen, laughing. “He was always good about me stealing the title of his film. Thanks, Paul.”
At an earlier screening, Springsteen said, he sat with his little sister Virginia and she held his hand during a touching scene when the rock star, at 32, sits on his father’s lap after a concert and tells his dad that he understands the latter had his own demons to fight.
“And after the film ended, she said, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we have this?’” Springsteen recalled. “And that’s how I feel about it. It’s wonderful that I have this, so thank you, everybody. Appreciate it.”
As he finished singing, he waved to the crowd, who had jumped to their feet.
“Stay strong,” he said, and left the stage.
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