Credit: Far Out / Carl Lender
Wed 30 September 2026 2:30, UK
Amidst the debates about whether artists should retain a position of political neutrality, there is one man who has never changed.
Bruce Springsteen rose to fame with the bloody Vietnam War as his political backdrop, taking aim at political leaders hellbent on injustice, and now, half a century on, he has continued as he started, with modern-day impostors caught in the very same lyrical crosshairs.
Because in 2026, as ‘The Boss’ continues to prove he is music’s original man of the people, he has opened each night of his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour with his cover of the Edwin Starr song ‘War’. The instantly recognisable anti-war song, with a singalong chorus for the ages, seems as fitting an opener now as it was when he released it as a single and then played it for his Tunnel of Love Express and Human Rights Now! tours.
Of course, it’s somewhat depressing to see just how little things have changed in that 40-year period. Between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, there’s very little in the way of difference, and there’s an argument to be made that the enduring presence of this song is only futile, given how similar the landscape it’s being played out into is.
Just as it did in ‘86, neo-liberalism rolls on in Western societies, driving an almighty wedge between the wealthy and the poor who are watching the climate hurtle towards disaster and one of the worst genocides unravel without any genuine accountability being taken. It feels as though the song is becoming less of a defiant statement and more of a hopeless, but genuine question. The world continues to burn, more ferociously than it ever has before, and it feels impossible to pluck out a single positive of war.
Even in his twilight years, Springsteen has taken it upon himself to be Trump’s most outspoken opponent, using his music and onstage monologues to highlight just how corrupt America’s current president is, but even the gritty hope of The Boss seems like it’s waning, no matter how defiant and energetic his live shows aim to be.
In a recent show, he told the crowd, “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”
Further reading: From The Vault
Then, in the stadium, he called for “all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring”.
Hope still shone through what was perhaps his most darkened outlook, as he never stopped, even when it seemed as though he was breathless with despondency. He continued to rattle through a greatest hits set littered with political anthems before closing on his punky cover of Edwin Starr’s ‘War’, where the crowd returned to the answer to that question: War really is good for absolutely nothing.
So here we are, 40 years on from his cover and 56 years on from Starr’s original release of it. Several wars have rolled on, political leaders have come and gone, but only one thing has truly endured: the music and its people.
Things might feel a little hopeless at times, but if Springsteen proves anything, it is to simply keep going.
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