Bruce Springsteen will return to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area on Saturday, March 28th, to perform at a No Kings rally and perform “Streets of Minneapolis,” the protest song he released in late January in response to the shooting deaths of American citizens Renee Goode and Alex Preti by federal ICE agents in Minneapolis. Springsteen performed the song live for the first time a few days after its release, appearing at the famous First Avenue Club in Minneapolis.
Springsteen’s song targets Donald Trump, with the lyrics referring to ICE as “Trump’s private army.” The music icon regularly speaks out against the US President, and it seems he has no plans to slow down on his upcoming tour. Springsteen announced earlier this year that his Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour would kick off on March 31st at Target Center in Minneapolis.
“The tour will be political and very topical about what’s going on in this country,” Springsteen told the Minnesota Star Tribune before returning to the state for the No Kings rally. “Minneapolis and St. Paul, that’s where I wanted to start it, and I wanted it to end in Washington.”
“The E Street Band is built for difficult times, and always has been,” he continued. “These are the moments that we think are truly valuable and have real value to the community. These are the moments that give the band purpose. So I try to fill the set list around those ideas.”
Springsteen said he was embarking on a new tour at a time when “this country” is “facing serious challenges and our fundamental ideas and values are under serious challenge.” The musician told Time magazine last fall that he continued to publicly criticize Trump because “so many people believed his lies.” Springsteen added that Trump should be “co-signed to the garbage heap of history.”
Is the musician worried that his outspoken anti-Trump politics will lose or alienate certain parts of his audience? “I’m not worried about that,” he told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “My job is very simple: I do what I want to say, I say what I want to say, and people get to say what they want about it. That’s the rule of the game for me. That’s fine with me. I’m not worried about losing this part of the audience. We’ve always felt about where we are culturally, and we’re still deeply committed to that idea of a band. Backlash is just part of it. I’m ready for all of that.”
Springsteen will be joining Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Jane Fonda and others at the upcoming No Kings Rally in St. Paul.
