{"id":415423,"date":"2026-01-18T19:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415423\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:08:08","slug":"bruce-springsteen-salutes-renee-good-decries-ices-gestapo-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415423\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen Salutes Renee Good, Decries ICE’s ‘Gestapo Tactics’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn an unbilled performance Saturday night at the Light of Day festival in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen<\/a> took solemn time out during an otherwise celebratory 75-minute set to dedicate \u201cThe Promised Land\u201d to the memory of slain Minneapolis woman Renee Good, decrying the \u201cGestapo tactics\u201d that he said have resulted in a climate where citizens can be \u201cmurdered for exercising your American right to protest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReciting a list of what he considers core American values, Springsteen then said that anyone who believes in them should \u201csend a message to this president. And as the mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis. So this one is for you, and the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHe then launched, with the evening\u2019s house band, into \u201cThe Promised Land,\u201d the 1978 rocker that is one of his most enduring anthems and concert favorites.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe remarks about Good and ICE were disseminated on fan video (see below) and first reported in full by Jay Lustig<\/a> of NJArts.net.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpringsteen began his \u201cPromised Land\u201d introduction by calling the \u201cDarkness on the Edge of Town\u201d favorite \u201chis next song is \u201cprobably one of my greatest songs\u201d and saying he wrote it \u201cas an ode to American possibility \u2026 both to the beautiful but flawed country that we are, and to the country that we could be. Now, right now, we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States, the ideals and the values for which it stood for the past 250 years, is being tested as it has never been in modern times. Those values and those ideals have never been as endangered as they are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued<\/a>, \u201cSo as we gather tonight in this beautiful display of love and care and thoughtfulness and community \u2026 if you believe in democracy, in liberty \u2026 if you believe that truth still matters, and that it\u2019s worth speaking out, and it\u2019s worth fighting for \u2026 if you believe in the power of the law and that no one stands above it \u2026 if you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading American cities, and using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens \u2026 if you believe you don\u2019t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest \u2026 then send a message to this President.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat message, he continued, was that \u201cas the mayor of that city has said, ICE should get the fuck out of Minneapolis. So this one is for you, and the memory of the mother of three and American citizen Renee Good.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Springsteen\u2019s appearance at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, NJ was unadvertised, it was widely expected, or at least hoped for, as the musician has often appeared at the Light of Day Foundation\u2019s Winterfest series of concerts, which benefit research for Parkinson\u2019s disease. His friend Joe Grushecky\u2019s Houserockers were the backing band for the evening, as they typically are for these benefits. Saturday\u2019s show also featured guest turns from Gary U.S. Bonds, Willie Nile, Goo Goo Dolls frontman Johnny Rzeznik and Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the other songs performed during the hour-plus set he fronted, according to NJ.com<\/a>, were the rarely performed \u201cLucky Town,\u201d \u201cDarkness on the Edge of Town\u201d and full-band versions of two songs that are fresh on fans\u2019 minds from the recent \u201cNebraska\u201d boxed set, \u201cAtlantic City\u201d and \u201cJohnny 99.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is no surprise to find Springsteen at odds with President Donald J. Trump<\/a>, who has responded angrily to the rock superstar\u2019s on-stage comments about his divisive actions. On an overseas tour that wrapped up last summer, Springsteen spoke out on a nightly basis, calling the current administation \u201c\u201ccorrupt, incompetent and treasonous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an interview with the New York Times in June, Springsteen called the current situation under Trump \u201can American tragedy\u2026 I think that it was the combination of the deindustrialization of the country and then the incredible increase in wealth disparity that left so many people behind. It was ripe for a demagogue. And while I can\u2019t believe it was this moron that came along, he fit the bill for some people.\u201d He added that \u201cwhat we\u2019ve been living through \u2026 is things that we all said, \u2018This can\u2019t happen here. This will never happen in America.\u2019 And here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump has not yet responded to Springsteen\u2019s latest remarks, but he took to his Truth Social account last year after learning of the rocker\u2019s remarks on tour, writing: \u201cI see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics\u00a0and, importantly, he\u2019s not a talented guy \u2014 Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK \u2026 This dried out \u2018prune\u2019 of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an unbilled performance Saturday night at the Light of Day festival in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[16755,1072,88,216],"class_list":["post-415423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-donald-j-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}