Need a lesson on the history of American immigration?
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will spell it out for you. “American Land,” performed just prior to “Born to Run” on the current Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour, tells the American immigrant story with charm, poignancy and wisdom.
The lyrics of the lively Irish jig, played with most of the 19-members of the band at the front of the stage, are shown on the stage’s video screens.
It’s the only song to have the lyrics shown, as they were Thursday, May 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn show.
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band bring their Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Monday, April 20, 2026.
There’s diamonds in the sidewalk, the gutter’s lined in songDear, I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
The appeal of an enchanted land of riches and bounty is colorfully depicted in “American Land,” but so is a dark side of the American Dream. The uneasy relationship between Americans already here and newly arrived Americans goes back hundreds of years.
They died building the railroads, they worked to bones and skinThey died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the windThey died to get here a hundred years ago, they’re still dying nowThe hands that built the country we’re always trying to keep down
The American immigrant experience is a major theme of the tour. The song “Streets of Minneapolis” is a centerpiece of the show. The recently released track pays tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot to death by federal agents as they were protesting the treatment of immigrants by ICE in Minneapolis.
“American Skin (41 Shots)” is also performed on the tour. The song was originally written in the wake of the fatal shooting of immigrant Amadou Diallo in 1999 by members of the New York City Police Department but it now takes on a new dimension with the ICE crackdowns.
Band member Jake Clemons, the nephew of the late Clarence Clemons, stands on stage with his arms held up high during the song, a testimony to those struck down because of their American skin.
Springsteen is patriot and so are his fans, judging by the number American flags popping up in the audience on the tour. A fan held a flag prominently near the front of the stage in Brooklyn on Thursday.
An American flag is shown on the stage video screens when Springsteen sings “Long Walk Home.”
The show, with plenty of Springsteen classics performed with passion and abandon, is a celebration of a welcoming America, and that’s something the 19,000 at the Barclays Center, on stage and off, took patriotic pride in.
“Honesty, honor, humility, character, truth, compassion, humanity, thoughtfulness, morality, true strength, and decency — don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore because they do,” said Springsteen Thursday as the opening chords of “My City of Ruins” played. “They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we want to be and the kind of country we want to leave to our children. So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people — you. So join us and let’s fight for the America we love.
“Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Are you with us? Are you with us? Are you with us? Then let’s go!”
They were and off they went into the night
Up next is Saturday, May 16 for a second show at Madison Square Garden. The tour concludes Saturday, May 30 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Bruce Springsteen Land of Hope and Dreams Brooklyn setlist
Darkness on the Edge of Town
House of a Thousand Guitars
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at cjordan@app.com
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen’s tour explores the American immigrant story