Bruce Springsteen is ready to kick off the U.S. leg of the E Street Band’s anti-Trump tour—and he doesn’t mind losing any remaining MAGA fans to do it.
The rocker will kick off the “Land of Hopes and Dreams” tour from Minneapolis on Tuesday, after spending the overseas leg slamming Trump as “corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous.” Springsteen told The Minnesota Star Tribune, “The tour is going to be political and very topical about what’s going on in the country.”
As far as potentially turning off fans of his who may support Trump, Springsteen said he isn’t batting an eye.
“I don’t worry about it,” he said. “My job is very simple: I do what I want to do, I say what I want to say, and then people get to say what they want to say about it. Those are the rules of my game. That’s fine with me. I don’t worry about if you’re going to lose this part of your audience.
“I’ve always had a feeling about the position we play culturally, and I’m still deeply committed to that idea of the band,” he continued. “The blowback is just part of it. I’m ready for all that.”
Springsteen has used every aspect of the tour to call attention to Trump and his administration, including the stops themselves. “Minneapolis and St. Paul, that was the place I wanted to begin it, and I wanted to end it in Washington,” he told the publication. In his Minneapolis protest anthem, “Streets of Minneapolis,” Springsteen brutally slams “King Trump” and ICE for the killings of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
“Through the winter’s ice and cold / Down Nicollet Avenue / A city aflame fought fire and ice / ‘Neath an occupier’s boots,” Springsteen sings, “Two dead left to die on snow-filled streets / Alex Pretti and Renée Good.”
He declared the upcoming tour performances a “defense of America” from its “wannabe king” in the band’s tour announcement last month.
Days before the tour kicks off in Minnesota on Tuesday, Springsteen will perform “Streets of Minneapolis” at the “No Kings” rally in St. Paul on Saturday, which is reportedly expected to draw around 100,000 people, according to CBS News.
Springsteen told The Tribune on Thursday, “The E Street Band is built for hard times. It always was. These are the moments when I think we can be of real value and real worth to the community.”
He added, “These are moments that fill the band with purpose.”
