Latest news with #TheLandofHopesandDreams
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
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why are liberals so scary?
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - : Bruce Springsteen performs during the first night of his "The Land of Hopes and Dreams" tour at Co-op Live on May 14, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by) We've all heard about the nine Republican state Senators who decided they were going to start voting their conscience, only to be censured by their own party. As if they would somehow become contagious. This series of events reminded me of something I've been wondering about, which is: Why it has become so fashionable to present 'liberals' as if we are dangerous, scary people. It is now one of those labels that Republicans throw around in order to discredit a person's character. It showed up on every other flyer that I received during the last election cycle. And of course it's one of those terms, for example 'communist,' that most people probably wouldn't be able to define if you asked them, even liberals themselves. So I thought about the qualities that most of my friends have in common. And the top thing on that list would probably be curiosity. I hang out with people who always want to learn more, whether it's about you, or about the history of the region where they live, or about whatever hobby they're interested in. And of course that also means that they are readers. Because what is the best way to learn? Another thing that most of my friends have in common is that they love people. They love meeting new people, they like to be in small groups where they can have discussions. They like to connect. And they like to help. I feel fortunate to know so many people who believe that helping others helps them become better people. And it also helps make the world a better place. So far, I'm not seeing a lot to be scared of. But let's keep looking. Most of my friends love the arts. They love how music and films and dance and visual arts force them to look at things a little differently. They love how songs and movies make them feel something, whether it's warm or frightening or confusing or ecstatic, the arts bring strong emotional responses into our lives in a way that is always unpredictable and surprising. Most of my friends also love to be outside. They love what the earth has to offer. They like the challenge of a long bike ride, or a hike into the mountains. They like to hunt and fish, or float one of the incredible rivers that flow through our beautiful state. They value having access to the best that Montana has to offer. A few days ago, Bruce Springsteen, who is only three years younger than Trump but looks at least 10 years younger, opened his latest tour in Manchester, England by sitting down at the front of the stage and delivering a calm, measured criticism of the current president. He didn't make anything up or call him a bunch of juvenile names. He didn't threaten him. He just laid out his opinion of the man's actions in a way that was thoughtful and most importantly, factual. Here's how he opened his speech, and it's pretty brilliant: 'In America, my home, they're persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That's happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world's poorest children to sickness and death. That's happening now. In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers. They're rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just society. They're abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those who are struggling for their freedom. That's happening now. They are defunding American universities that won't bow down to their ideological demands. And they are removing residents off American streets without due process of law and deploying them to foreign detention centers and prisons. That's happening now.' So maybe that's it. It's the honesty. Most of my friends have never been convicted of a felony. Most of them have never been accused of rape, especially by multiple sources. Most of my friends wouldn't think of referring to another country as a 'sh–hole country.' They wouldn't think to lump an entire race of people into one group and make sweeping generalizations about those people. Most of my wealthy friends wouldn't think of rubbing their wealth in your face, or bragging about the fact that they don't pay taxes, because they do. Most of them wouldn't brag about going into the dressing room of a bunch of teenage girls while they're getting ready for a pageant. Most of my friends wouldn't encourage people to beat the crap out of other people. Most of them wouldn't make up lies on the spot just to make others look bad because they got their feelings hurt. So the only thing that I can think of that makes liberals scary is that they try like hell to be honest, and if there's one thing that scares Republicans at this moment in time, it's the truth. Springsteen is fortunate to be huge enough that he can lose a huge chunk of his fan base without worrying about his career going off the rails. But of course that doesn't stop Donald Trump from trying his damnedest to discredit the man. And among other things, that means hitting him over the head with the dreaded 'liberal' label. It didn't stop Springsteen from doing the same thing at his next few stops, to the dismay of many of his long-term fans, and as someone so accurately pointed out, have they not been paying attention to what this man has stood for from the beginning? The saddest part about Trump's tantrums is how utterly childish they are. He always resorts to the most basic insults, saying he never liked Springsteen and that he has no talent—a meaningless insult coming from a guy who pals around with Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. Trump has and always will resort to the lowest form of attack, and that is exactly why he is so threatened by someone like Bruce, who did just the opposite. So I guess I'll keep doing what most of my friends have been doing, trying to become better people, failing here and there, but always striving to improve. Telling the truth as well as we know how, without resorting to hissy fits when someone offers constructive criticism. And hopefully it will continue to scare the hell out of these people.
Newsweek
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Bruce Springsteen Speaks Out Again After Trump's 'Dried-Out Prune' Jibe
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Bruce Springsteen has spoken out against the White House again after President Donald Trump called him a "dried-out prune" on social media. Speaking in Manchester, England, the musician criticized the government for the second time during his Land of Hopes and Dreams tour, despite Trump previously biting back. Why It Matters Springsteen is an influential figure who has released 21 studio albums over the past few decades. The 75-year-old musician has previously endorsed Democratic candidates including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and ahead of the 2024 presidential election described Trump as the "most dangerous candidate for president" in his lifetime. Tensions between Springsteen and Trump started when the rocker denounced the administration in the opening remarks of his tour in Manchester on Wednesday night, resulting in the president lashing out in response. Bruce Springsteen performs during the first night of "The Land of Hopes and Dreams" tour on May 14, 2025, in Manchester, England. Bruce Springsteen performs during the first night of "The Land of Hopes and Dreams" tour on May 14, 2025, in Manchester, England. Photo byWhat To Know "Tonight we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voice against authoritarianism and let freedom ring," Springsteen said on Wednesday. He also referenced Trump's deportations and said America was "persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent." He said Trump was "an unfit president" who was in charge of "a rogue government" that was "corrupt, incompetent and treasonous." In response, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and called Springsteen "a pushy, obnoxious JERK" and a "dried-out 'prune' of a rocker." Springsteen spoke out again after Trump's social media post, saying that events in America "are altering the very nature of our country's democracy." "In my home, they're persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That's happening now," Springsteen said. "In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world's poorest children to sickness and death. That's happening now. In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers." He added that authorities were "removing residents off American streets without due process" and that elected officials had "utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government." What People Are Saying President Donald Trump on Truth Social: "Sleepy Joe didn't have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is 'dumb as a rock,' and couldn't see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out 'prune' of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) 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!" Republican California Governor candidate Steve Hilton wrote on X: "I may not have been 'born in the USA' like Bruce Springsteen, but I moved here and became an American by choice. So I'm disgusted to see him running around England criticizing our country. Maybe he should stay there!" What Happens Next Springsteen's tour is scheduled to run until July and will see him play 16 shows across six European countries.
