<\/p>\n
A fan responds to Bruce Springsteen fulfilling her request for a guitar pick during a concert at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Breunig\/Hearst Connecticut Media Group<\/p>\n
Bruce Springsteen walks among audience members during his concert at UBS Arena in\u00a0Elmont, N.Y., on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Breunig\/Hearst Connecticut Media Group<\/p>\n
Bruce Springsteen built his entire current tour as a declaration against the policies of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. (that is still the correct address, right? Has the street been rebranded<\/a> yet? It\u2019s getting hard to keep track).<\/p>\n So it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise that Springsteen sprinkled some F-bombs into presidential chatter during his show at UBS Arena on Long Island Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Except these comments were about a different president.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the guy who keeps yelling \u2018Obama\u2019<\/a> \u2026 He\u2019s not @$#%& here, man,\u201d Springsteen growled in his impromptu introduction to \u201cHouse Of A Thousand Guitars.\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s \u2026 not \u2026 @$#%& \u2026 here. I don\u2019t know where the @$#%& he is. He might be in Hawaii or somethin.\u2019 I\u2019ll do this for you.\u201d<\/p>\n So former Prez Barack Obama got exactly one more name-check than Donald Trump did. Not that Springsteen didn\u2019t talk about Trump. He just stuck to the \u201cHe-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named\u201d tactic, which I believe he nicked from Obama<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a president who says he wishes nothing but ill upon those who he disagrees with,\u201d Springsteen said near the end of the show. \u201cNow I don\u2019t want to live that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Trump, of course, has been roasting Springsteen<\/a> by calling him a \u201ctotal loser,\u201d a \u201cvery boring singer\u201d and a \u201cdried up prune\u201d (I wonder what Trump is saving for the encores?).<\/p>\n I do want to thank the president for encouraging a MAGA boycott of Springsteen<\/a>. It made the evening a lot more pleasant.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re being honest, there have always been fans at Springsteen shows who lean hard on the \u201cshut up and sing\u201d reflex when politics comes up (which is pretty often if they\u2019d shut up and listen). For the first time in my 40-plus years at Springsteen shows, that was not an issue on Tuesday.<\/p>\n I was editor of my college paper in 1984 when Springsteen offered a bitter rebuttal to his then-new \u201cBorn in the U.S.A.\u201d being co-opted by President Ronald Reagan<\/a> on the campaign trail. Springsteen was about to turn 35, and it really was the first time he drew big headlines for his politics.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Five years earlier, Springsteen spent the final days of his 20s performing at the \u201cNo Nukes\u201d concerts at Madison Square Garden. Surrounded by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and others, Springsteen seemed like a neophyte as an activist. He never spoke about the cause from the stage, preferring to let his music do the talking.<\/p>\n When he returns to the MSG stage this week, Springsteen will certainly demonstrate how much has changed since 1979. Only three songs seem likely to cross the 47-year bridge \u2014 \u201cThe Promised Land,\u201d \u201cBadlands\u201d and \u201cBorn to Run.\u201d<\/p>\n Those warhorses will be joined by a setlist of some of the grittiest songs from the Springsteen catalog. During Tuesday\u2019s show at UBS, Springsteen\u2019s lyrics shaped a map in my imagination. As he rallied for the nation\u2019s future, he took us on a tour around the states from the \u201cStreets of Minneapolis\u201d to \u201cYoungstown\u201d to Baltimore (\u201cHungry Heart\u201d) to the California\/Mexico border (\u201cGhost of Tom Joad\u201d).<\/p>\n And sure, we made a few stops in Springsteen\u2019s native Garden State. But we spent a lot of time in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u2022 A pause at Wheeler Avenue in the Bronx during \u201cAmerican Skin (41 Shots)\u201d to revisit the police shooting of Amadou Diallo in 1999 (the tension at the MSG shows when he debuted the song in 2000 has never been matched).<\/p>\n \u2022 A pause at Ground Zero to mourn the dead in \u201cThe Rising.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 A spiritual return to Ellis Island for \u201cAmerican Land.\u201d<\/p>\n For all his roots in roots rock, though, Springsteen also seemed to embrace the punk spirit of the late \u201970s. It helped that he dueted on the Clash\u2019s \u201cClampdown<\/a>\u201d with Tom Morello, whose band Rage Against the Machine covered the song at its first live show in 1991. The lyrics challenge the next generation to stand up to the status quo.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n More artists need to heed that call. Springsteen is holding out a torch, an invitation for others to carry forward.<\/p>\n Springsteen ended the show with another cover, \u201cChimes of Freedom,\u201d <\/a>which reminded us that its author \u2014 Bob Dylan \u2014 is a different brand of punk.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n