On the latest stop of his ongoing European tour in Liverpool at Anfield Stadium on June 4th, Bruce Springsteen again used his platform to lament against President Donald Trump’s regime.
To a chorus of cheers before playing ‘Land of Hopes and Dreams’, Springsteen told the huge crowd on Merseyside: “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.”
Anfield sings along with Bruce Springsteen to ‘Born In The USA’
He continued: “Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voice and stand with us against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”
Springsteen has been introducing the fan favourite, which was first performed live in 1999 but didn’t get a studio release until 2012’s Wrecking Ball, in an almost word-for-word manner across his ongoing European tour, which began almost a month ago in Manchester at the Co-op Live.
Later on in the show, he also typically delivers another anti-Trump monologue before performing ‘My City of Ruins’. At the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, he said to another roaring ovation: “I’ve always tried to be a good ambassador for America, I’ve spent my life singing about where we have succeeded and where we’ve come short in living up to our civic ideals and our dreams. Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy and they’re simply too important to ignore.”
Later in his speech, Springsteen passionately said, “The America that I sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its many faults, it’s a great country with great people and we will survive this moment.”
When the tour rolled through the Orange Vélodrome in Marseille for another performance on May 31st, he again rallied up the crowd with his pro-democracy speech and called out the Trump regime.
Significantly, Springsteen has been undeterred by Trump’s responses, which began when the President took to Truth Social to write: “Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK”.
He also suggested that Springsteen “ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Trump later levelled up the threat level and announced plans to launch a “major investigation” into the singer’s support of the Democratic Party at the last election after ‘The Boss’ performed at two rallies in swing states last October.
However, in recent weeks, Trump has seemingly moved on from the Springsteen feud. He has not mentioned the singer-songwriter on social media since sharing doctored footage on May 21st showing him hitting a golf ball that had been edited to look as if it caused Springsteen to fall on-stage.
Springsteen will again perform in Liverpool at Anfield Stadium on June 7th.
Bruce SpringsteenDonald Trump
