Bruce Springsteen performs at The Target Center in Minneapolis.
Bruce Springsteen pointedly started the first show of his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour with “War,” making its first appearance at an E Street Band show in more than 20 years.
The first two songs of the March 31 concert, which was at The Target Center in Minneapolis, were streamed online, for free; you can watch both below. “War” was followed by “Born in the USA,” starting at the 15-minute mark of the video below.
“I want to begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas,” said Springsteen. “We pray for their safe return. The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in dangerous times. We are here in celebration and defense of our American ideals, democracy, our Constitution, and our sacred American promise. The America that I love, the America that I have written about for 50 years, that’s been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration.
“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, unity over division, and peace over war.”
With this last word, the show’s first song began.
Tom Morello, who is joining the band on this tour, took guitar solos on both songs. Among the other songs he was featured on was a rousing cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” which was one of the encores. Springsteen and the band had played the song only three times before, all in 2016, in the weeks after Prince died.
There is a video of “Purple Rain” below, as well.
I have also added a video of the show’s last song, “Chimes of Freedom,” which was preceded by a speech in which Springsteen summed up the purpose of the tour. He said:
I go back to thinking about Renée Good’s last words before she died, to the man who she was protesting against, the man who would take her life. She said, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you. I’m not mad.” God bless her.
The crowd gave a big cheer, and Springsteen continued:
So tonight, when you go home, hold your loved ones close. And tomorrow, do as Renée did, find a way to take aggressive, peaceful action to defend our country’s ideals. And as the great civil rights leader John Lewis said, “Go out and get into some good trouble. Say something. Do something. Help! Sing something!” If you’re feeling helpless, hopeless, betrayed, frustrated, angry … I know I’ve been. That’s why The E Street Band is here tonight. This is a tour that was not planned. We’re here tonight because we need to feel your hope, and your strength. And we want to bring some hope and some strength for you. I hope we did that. All I can say is God bless Alex Pretti, God bless Renée Good, God bless you, and God bless America.
“War,” co-written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, was a No. 1 hit for Edwin Starr in 1970. Springsteen and the E Street Band have not performed it since 2003. They have played it many times before, though — mostly in 1988, but occasionally before and after then, as well.
A new protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis” (released as a single on Jan. 28), was played sixth in the show. This was the song’s first full-band concert performance.
Here is the show’s setlist. Asterisks (*) denote songs on which Tom Morello played.
“War” (*)
“Born in the USA” (*)
“Death to My Hometown” (*)
“No Surrender”
“Darkness on the Edge of Town”
“Streets of Minneapolis”
“The Promised Land”
“Out in the Street”
“Hungry Heart”
“Youngstown”
“Murder Incorporated”
“American Skin (41 Shots)” (*)
“Long Walk Home” (*)
“House of a Thousand Guitars”
“My City of Ruins”
“Because the Night”
“Wrecking Ball”
“The Rising”
“The Ghost of Tom Joad” (*)
“Badlands” (*)
“Land of Hope and Dreams” (*)
Encore:
“Born to Run”
“Bobby Jean”
“Dancing in the Dark”
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-out” (*)
“Purple Rain” (*)
“Chimes of Freedom” (*)
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