(Credits: Far Out / Thomas Rungstrom / Tom Morello)
Sat 31 January 2026 9:42, UK
Bruce Springsteen was the surprise guest at Tom Morello’s ‘Defend Minnesota’ fundraiser, organised in honour of the families of ICE victims, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of whom were shot and killed by ICE agents on the streets of Minnesota in the last month.
Morello announced the huge event only a day before it was set to take place at First Avenue, Minneapolis. The event was set to feature Rise Against, Al Di Meola, and Ike Reilly, and a very special guest.
After releasing a new protest song, ‘Streets of Minneapolis’, dedicated to both Pretti and Good, Springsteen seemed primed to be the perfect candidate to sing for the very people he wrote so passionately about.
Sure enough, The Boss took to the stage as the special guest, and shared details of the new song with the huge audience: “So I write this song, and I recorded it the next day, and I sent it to Tom Morello,” he said.
“Now I know Tom is an excitable man. I say, ‘Tom, what do you think? It’s kind of soapbox-y.’ And he says, ‘Bruce, nuance is wonderful, but sometimes, you have to kick them in the teeth.”
The ‘Born in the USA’ singer then dedicated his performance to ”the people of Minneapolis, the people of Minnesota, and the people of our good country of the United States of America.”
After his acoustic rendition of the fiery track, Springsteen led the crowd through a chant of “ICE out now.”
At one point during the show, as shared by Rolling Stone, Morello lifted and inverted his guitar to show the words “arrest the president” to the crowd, with Springsteen laughing heartily at the affair.
Morello hasn’t been shy about his anti-Trump rhetoric. When announcing the fundraiser, Morello shared with his social media fans: “If it looks like fascism, sounds like fascism, acts like fascism, dresses like fascism, talks like fascism, kills like fascism and lies like fascism, boys & girls it’s f*cking fascism.”
Speaking to the crowd in Minneapolis, he furthered this stance: “I heard the Trump administration has claimed that outside agitators have come to Minneapolis to stir up trouble.”
Morello added, “I would like to confirm that we are those outside agitators, and we’re gonna stir up a shit-ton of trouble.”
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