Concert Reviews
“We will make it through because of the love, faith, anger, and hope in your heart and soul, and the timeless belief that better days lie ahead. This is how America renews itself.”
Bruce Springsteen at TD Garden Sunday. Ben Stas for Boston.com
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Review and setlist: Springsteen eviscerates Trump at fiery TD Garden stop
Bruce Springsteen delivered four separate statements to the TD Garden audience at his Boston show Sunday night, encapsulating his thinking behind his “Land of Hope and Dreams Tour.” Below are the remarks in their entirety.
Before ‘War’:
Good evening, Boston. Welcome to the “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour. We begin the night with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for an end to this conflict and for their safe return.
The E Street Band is here tonight in celebration and defense of the American ideals and values that have sustained our country for 250 years. We are here to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in these troubled times. Our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration.
So tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war.
Before ‘Streets of Minneapolis’:
This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis. They picked the wrong town.
The power and solidarity of the people of Minnesota was an inspiration to the entire country. They stood shoulder to shoulder for their neighbor. Their strength and their commitment told us that this is still America, and the gestapo tactics of this president and this administration will not stand here. They gave us hope. They gave us courage.
And as for those who gave their lives: Renee Good, mother of three, brutally murdered, and Alex Pretti, VA nurse, executed by ICE and left to die in the street without even the decency of our lawless government investigating their deaths — it was nothing, nothing, nothing. Their bravery and their sacrifice and their names will not be forgotten.
Before ‘My City of Ruins’:
We are living through troubled and troubling times. Our young men and women’s lives are at risk in an incompetent, unwise, and illegal war. This is happening now. The Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act and historically set back our hard-fought-for civil rights movement. A movement for which people marched, fought and gave their lives. This is happening now. There are immigrants being held in for-profit detention centers around the country, being deported without due process of law. That’s unamerican and that’s happening now.
Our Justice Department has completely abdicated its independence and it takes its marching orders directly from a corrupt White House. They prosecute our president’s perceived enemies. They cover up for his misdeeds and they protect his powerful friends. That’s happening now.
The richest men in America have abandoned the world’s poorest children to death and disease through the dismantling of USAID. This is no longer on the front page, but children die every day. And this is happening now.
We are undermining NATO and the world order that kept us safe and at global peace for 80 years. Our museums are being told to whitewash American history of any unpleasant or inconvenient facts like the full history of the brutality of slavery. You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can’t handle the truth.
We have a president who wants to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate and reward people who attacked our capital, our democracy, assaulted our police officers on January 6. This is an American outrage and this is happening now.
This White House is destroying the American ideal and our reputation around the world. We still stood as a beacon for hope, liberty, and freedom around the world. An imperfect but strong defender of democracy, standing for the global good. And to many now, we are America, the reckless, unpredictable, predatory, untrustworthy rogue nation. That is this administration and this president’s legacy. And this is happening now.
Honesty. Honor. Humility. Character. Integrity. Truth. Compassion. Humanity. Thoughtfulness. Morality. True strength and decency. Don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore because they do. They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we want to be, the kind of country we want to leave to our children.
So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people. You. There is no one coming to save us. We’ve got to do it ourselves.
So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.
Do you hear me, Boston?
Do you hear me, Boston?
Do you hear me, Boston?
Are you with us, Boston?
Let’s go.
Before ‘Chimes of Freedom’:
Thank you for supporting our band all these years. I remember early ’70s we played at Joe’s Place, Charlie’s Place. I was 24. So what I want to say is Boston, thanks for a lifetime.
Yes, these are hard times, but the E Street Band was built for hard times. And we will make it through these because of the love, faith, anger, and hope in your heart and soul, and the timeless belief that better days lie ahead. This is how America renews itself.
The hardest part for me has been feeling the distance between you and your neighbors, between you and your fellow citizens. That distance is painful and it can darken your soul.
We have a president who says he wishes nothing but ill upon those who he disagrees with. That’s not the country I want to live in. From the beginning, America was born out of disagreement. It’s an argument. It’s an ongoing, blessed, sacred argument about what course the country should take to form that more perfect union. We can argue about these things and still recognize our common humanity, our dignity, and our unity.
The most heartbreaking example of what I’m trying to say was Renee Good’s last words. The last words that she spoke to the man who minutes later would take her life, would kill her. She rolled down the window and the last thing she said was, “I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad. God bless you.”
So, when you go home tonight, hold your loved ones close and in the morning, do as Renee did. Find a way to take aggressive peaceful action to defend our country’s ideals and do as the great civil rights leader John Lewis said. Go out and get in some good trouble.
Say something, do something, give something, sing something … That’s all right if we’re feeling helpless, hopeless, frustrated, betrayed, angry. I understand. That’s why we’re here tonight. We needed to feel your strength and your hope and your faith. And we needed to bring you some strength and to bring you some hope and to bring you some faith. I hope we’ve done that tonight.
So, God bless Alex Pretti. God bless Renee Good. God bless you, and God bless America.
Peter Chianca
Peter Chianca, Boston.com’s general assignment editor since 2019, is a longtime news editor, columnist, and music writer in the Greater Boston area.
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