Latest news with #E-StreetBand
ITV News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- ITV News
Bruce Springsteen fans in 'roll call' ahead of Liverpool concert
Superfans of Bruce Springsteen have been showing their loyalty by turning up for a 'roll call' ahead of his Anfield concert. Hundreds of people gather in Stanley Park at 10am, 3pm and 7pm every day and receive a number to ensure they get the best spot at the front of his gig. The legendary musician and the E-Street Band will play two concerts at Anfield Stadium this week on Wednesday June 4 and Saturday June 7. Springsteen fans are used to the ritual of the roll call as the practice has been commonplace for fans going to his gigs since 2009. It's all planned with the organisers, after their number is written on their hand, they have to return for every roll call to keep their spot. Fans of 'The Boss' explain the roll call system and why it is worth the wait One fan says: "As long as you've got your number and you turn up for roll call then you keep that number, but if you don't turn up then you are scrubbed off the list. It's all worth it because some of us are a little bit older and when security come they walk us in, there's no running or pushing in front of each other"
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Robert Plant expresses support for Bruce Springsteen's opposition to Donald Trump as row rumbles on
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Robert Plant has expressed his support for Bruce Springsteen's well-publicised opposition to US President Donald Trump. Speaking to an audience at a Saving Grace show at Tampere-talo in Tampere, Finland, Plant says, "Right now in England, which is where we come from – not quite the land of the ice and snow – Bruce Springsteen is touring right now in the UK. And he's putting out some really serious stuff. So tune in to him. And let's all hope that we can be…' Saving Grace then play a cover of Led Zeppelin's Friends. Springsteen delivered his anti-Trump speech on the opening night of the E-Street Band's Land of Hope and Dreams tour at Manchester's Co-op Live arena, telling the 23,500 crowd that the US was "currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration." Trump responded on his Truth Social platform, calling The Boss a "dried out 'prune' of a rocker" and "a pushy, obnoxious JERK" (capitals his). More recently, he has posted a doctored video showing himself hitting Springsteen with a golf ball. Springsteen has also received public support from Neil Young, Pearl Jam and the American Federation of Musicians, and today he officially released the speech on streaming platforms as part of a six-track EP, Land of Hope and Dreams (below). It's unclear whether Trump will respond to this "diss track" with a release of his own. In other Robert Plant news, the former Led Zeppelin man will appear on Paul Weller's upcoming covers album Find El Dorado. Plant has provided vocals and harmonica on a version of Clive's Song, written by the Incredible String Band's Clive Palmer and first recorded by Scottish folk singer Hamish Imlach in 1969. The album will be released on July 25 and is available to pre-order now.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Obnoxious jerk' Bruce Springsteen deepens Donald Trump rift on his final night in Manchester
Bruce Springsteen told a Manchester audience he wants to be an ambassador for America. As he stood in the spotlight at the Co-op Live venue last night he asked: "Manchester are you ready for round three?" He then repeated his belief that his country was in "dangerous times" which put at risk its liberty of more than 200 years as his beef with President Donald Trump continued. READ MORE: The North Wales beach that looks like it's in South Africa with a pub by the sand READ MORE: The stunning canalside pub with a boat inside the bar The legendary singer was branded "an obnoxious jerk" and "dried out prune of a rocker" who "should keep his mouth shut" by Trump after he criticised his policies with fiery speeches from the stage in Manchester at his first two shows. The Boss fired another shot of rhetoric last night, saying: "When the conditions are ripe for a demagogue you can be sure they will turn up." In his final night in the city on his Land of Hopes and Dreams tour, he said he had spent his life being an ambassador for America but said things were happening which threatened his country's democracy. He said: "We are persecuting people for using their right to free speech. They are rolling back historic civil rights legislation, defunding universities... this is all happening now." His conclusion was it was due to an "unfit president". He added: "They have no idea what it means to be deeply American - the country I have sung about for 50 years." His set began with a ferocious version of "No Surrender" followed by "Land of Hope and Dreams" in which his vocals roared but never cracked, as if stirred by what was happening in his homeland. "Death In My Hometown" continued the theme then the surging huge sound of "Seeds" - another tale of economic struggle - exploded with nifty guitar from Nils Lofgren. There was a rare outing for "Something in The Night" from the classic Darkness on the Edge of Town album. From the same album he delivered "Promised Land" with a piano break to make even Salford's toughest weep. You could visualise the metaphor of gloom - "a dark cloud rising form the desert floor". But the song, which explores hope, resilience, and the fight for a better life is and was ultimately exhilarating. From the acoustic "Nebraska" album the track "Reason To Believe" got the full E-Street Band treatment and was transformed into a tour-de-force. The wonderful "River" ended with an entrancing soft Sprinsteen howl. A scorching "Long Way Home" seemed to again frame his angst towards Trump, and at the end of it he told us: "The last check on power is people - you and me. At the end of the day, we a have got each other." An acoustic take on the electric rave-up "House of 1000 Guitars" meant the line "The criminal clown has stolen the throne" was crystal clear. Badlands always triggers a crowd eruption from the pit to the seats far from the stage. Last night was no excpetion. My legs as well as my scalp was tingling - a sensation you are unlikely to feel at a MAGA hoe-down. The lights went on for thunderous versions of Born In The USA; Glory Days; and Dancing In The Dark - a recipe to unstrap joy - which is what Springsteen sells.
Newsweek
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
'The Boss' Is Out of Touch With His Neighbors, Factory Workers
A letter to Bruce Springsteen from a fan: Dear Bruce, I've been a fan for as long as I can remember. From "Born to Run" to "The Rising," from your orchestral country masterpiece "Western Stars," to your 2020 gem "Letter to You," always you're moving us. Always you're surprising us. With a catalogue of songs shot through with self-doubt and hope, loss and love. Songs populated with characters we know and care about. Crammed with snippets of our lives and yours, radiating with your Catholic impulse toward God's mercy. I've seen you in concert more times than I'd care to admit (over 50). There's always something for everyone in your 3-plus-hour sets: You bring out the horn section and background singers for R&B numbers, break things down country-style with acoustic and steel guitars, then come the gospel-influenced numbers that make the show feel like a revival. With the sets always anchored by rock and roll. And those moments where it's you alone with an acoustic guitar and harmonica, unplugged before MTV "invented" it. It's a celebration of American music, your concerts: an invitation for music lovers to gather under one roof and forget our differences. And always, your set lists surprise us. Each night, they're different—keeping the show fresh for us. And for you and the E-Street Band, too. Bruce Springsteen performs during the first night of "The Land of Hopes and Dreams" tour at Co-op Live on May 14, 2025, in Manchester, England. Bruce Springsteen performs during the first night of "The Land of Hopes and Dreams" tour at Co-op Live on May 14, 2025, in Manchester, England. Photo byWhich is why, for the last 45 years, it has been so disappointing to watch you descend to rank partisan politics on and off the stage. Not because you don't have a right to voice your opinions, but because what you say every election cycle is so predictable. And—dare I say—so boring. And predictable and boring are words I never associated with you. Your political musings, for as long as you've been talking politics, have been reductionistic and repetitive: if Republicans win the White House, the poor will get poorer, the hungry will grow hungrier and the America we love will somehow vanish. It began with oblique on-stage ramblings about President Reagan and the era of greed in the 1980s. Since 2004, you've never failed to endorse a Democrat candidate (Kerry, Obama, Clinton and Biden). Which is why it didn't surprise anyone when you endorsed Kamala Harris last fall. "Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime," you said in a staged video from a local New Jersey diner last fall. "He doesn't understand the meaning of this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American." It's why it didn't surprise us when we heard your recent Trump harangue on stage in London. Trump responded by attacking you, and you responded with two on-stage scripted screeds of your own. "In my home, they're persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent," you said, forgetting that Facebook and Twitter had deplatformed Trump years earlier, and COVID policy critics, too. But you weren't finished: "In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world's poorest children to sickness and death." But here's the funny thing, Bruce: Monmouth County, New Jersey—which includes the town you put on the map (Asbury Park), the town you were born and raised in (Freehold) and the town in which you currently live (Colts Neck)—voted overwhelmingly for Trump and his policies: 54.8 percent to 43.4 percent. In the town you now live, the vote was over 70 percent for Trump (70 percent!). As you know (but readers of this letter may not) Monmouth County, which lies an hour south of the bluer New Jersey counties closer to New York City, is filled with small beach towns and working-class and wealthy enclaves. Which means, Bruce, you believe the majority of your local friends and neighbors are either stupid or dangerous. Or both. What an irony: You, the guy who wrote "My Hometown," doesn't understand much about—and chooses to ridicule publicly—more than half the folks in your hometown and county. But you're not just out of touch with your neighbors, Bruce. It's the factory workers you've written about—and purport to care about—in songs like "Factory," "Mansion on the Hill" and "Youngstown." In your most iconic song, "Born in the U.S.A.," the Vietnam vet narrator returns to his old job at the refinery only to hear those hard words from the hiring man: "Son, if it were up to me." But if you bothered to talk to refinery, oil and gas workers—high-paying blue-collar jobs—and asked what they thought of Harris given her antipathy to fossil fuels, they would've told you she was the dangerous candidate. To their livelihoods. To our nation's economy. And to national security, which millions of us believe is at stake when it comes to American energy production. "I'd say 80 percent to 90 percent of [United Steelworkers] oil workers will vote for Trump," a Texas union leader told Reuters in a story last fall. Are they stupid or dangerous for believing what they believe, Bruce? You should spend time in Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania, a coal mining region in the early 20th century that lost population when the mines closed and factories shuttered? Towns like Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton and Pittston call the county home, which recently turned red after a 50-year Democrat run. They peaked in 2009, with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans 2-to-1. By 2020, the lead was erased. In 2024, Trump carried the county 59.5 percent to Harris' 39.5 percent. Did the working-class folks of Luzerne County change, Bruce? Or did you? Did the voters lose their minds and souls? Or is there something deeper happening there—and across America—worth knowing and writing about? You might surprise yourself if you got to know them. And one last thing, Bruce. The next time you step up to a microphone in an arena filled with fans to talk politics, remember you've invited us to celebrate your music. It's why we come, many of us stretching family budgets to do so. We come escape the travails of the day, and together experience—as one song title of yours suggests—"all the heaven will allow." Remember also that many—possibly half—of your invited guests think quite differently about public policies that might best improve the lives of working families. Bruce, your on-stage harangues aren't just predictable and boring: they're rude. And unbecoming a generous, empathetic host like you. You have every right to do it. But we come to your shows to be moved, not lectured. We love you. But sometimes it feels like you don't love us back. Or at least don't respect us. And the meaningful reasons we come to see you. From a forever fan. Lee Habeeb
