The crowd at Lincoln Center\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s in that spirit that I brought along my lifelong weapon of choice: the guitar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then he began playing Land of Hope and Dreams.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s message.<\/p>\n
In June 2018, he used a performance of Springsteen on Broadway to speak out against the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cinhumane\u201d 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 \u201cdeeply damaged to his core\u201d. He also campaigned for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n
This year in Manchester, England, at the May launch of his European tour with the E Street Band, he spoke out again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my home, the America I love, the America I\u2019ve 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,\u201d he said. \u201cTonight, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Introducing My City of Ruins, he referenced US DOGE Service cuts and ICE deportations, saying, \u201cIn my country, they\u2019re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the majority of elected representatives \u201chave failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government\u201d. Later in the set, he dedicated his 2020 song Rainmaker \u2013 which he said is about people in a drought, desperate for relief \u2013 to \u201cour dear leader\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump, in turn, called Springsteen \u201chighly overrated\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
But in a September 25 interview with Time magazine, Springsteen quipped: \u201cI absolutely couldn\u2019t care less what he thinks about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The musician also issued new missives. \u201cHe\u2019s the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for,\u201d he told Time of Trump. \u201cIf Congress had any guts, he\u2019d be consigned to the trash heap of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Springsteen criticised the Trump administration and urged people to fight for hope and democracy. Photo \/ The Washington Post<\/p>\n
Springsteen likewise had sharp criticism for the Democrats. \u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a problem with the language that they\u2019re using and the way they\u2019re trying to reach people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201cputting his heart and soul into the part and for playing a much better looking version of me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Springsteen also thanked Jeremy Strong, who played \u201ca much, much better-looking version\u201d of Jon Landau, the musician\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The film includes flashbacks of Springsteen\u2019s difficult childhood with his father, Douglas Frederick \u201cDutch\u201d Springsteen, a bus driver played by Stephen Graham of Adolescent, who was an alcoholic and struggled with mental health issues. Springsteen thanked Graham for \u201cbeing the living embodiment of my late father, who had a difficult life but was a good-hearted man\u201d. Gaby Hoffman portrays his mother, Adele Ann, who had worked as a legal secretary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all gone now, so it\u2019s nice to have this piece of film,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know where the f*** any of us would be without Paul Schrader,\u201d said Springsteen, laughing. \u201cHe was always good about me stealing the title of his film. Thanks, Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s lap after a concert and tells his dad that he understands the latter had his own demons to fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd after the film ended, she said, \u2018Isn\u2019t it wonderful that we have this?\u2019\u201d Springsteen recalled. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how I feel about it. It\u2019s wonderful that I have this, so thank you, everybody. Appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he finished singing, he waved to the crowd, who had jumped to their feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay strong,\u201d he said, and left the stage.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The crowd at Lincoln Center\u2019s Alice Tully Hall cheered in support for what seemed to be a clear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,2438,8239,795,15441,299,156,593,6637,44227,3223,424,435,117,111,139,69,90,16083,7241,8244,1629,9345,44226,16124,23741,19554,2179,21732,102,1530,2173],"class_list":["post-51243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-about","tag-administration","tag-american","tag-bruce","tag-crowd","tag-dream","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-gave","tag-impassioned","tag-legend","tag-life","tag-movie","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-premiere","tag-publicly","tag-recent","tag-rock","tag-speech","tag-springsteen","tag-surprised","tag-surprises","tag-taken","tag-trump","tag-vision","tag-with","tag-years","tag-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}