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American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bruce Springsteen performed at the Co-Op Live stage in Manchester, England, on the opening night of his ‘Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour’ on May 14, 2025.
During the show, the 75-year-old musician criticized the Donald Trump administration and called the POTUS “corrupt,” “incompetent,” and “treasonous,” among other things.
The video of the moment has now gone viral, where he was seen introducing the single Land of Hope and Dreams by saying:
“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.”
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Springsteen continued, “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”
Bruce urged the audience by saying that if they believe in democracy and the “American experiment,” they must rise, raise their voices against “authoritarianism,” and “let freedom ring.”
So far, neither the Trump administration nor the President himself has addressed Bruce Springsteen’s viral remarks.
Exploring further Bruce Springsteen’s recent criticism of the Trump administration
Throughout the show, Springsteen called out Trump and the administration. For instance, before his song House of a Thousand Guitars, Springsteen stated:
“The last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. At the end of the day, all we've got is each other.”
Likewise, while introducing his song City of Ruin, Springsteen indirectly referred to Elon Musk and DOGE’s decision to cut funds for ICE deportations and USAID.
“There's some very weird, strange, and dangerous sh*t going on out there right now. In America they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death,” Bruce stated.
The New Jersey native continued by saying that powerful people in the USA were taking “sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.” He added that the administration was “rolling back historic civil rights legislation” that has for centuries upheld a “just and plural society.”
According to Bruce Springsteen, the USA was abandoning its “great allies” and taking sides with “dictators” against those “struggling for their freedom.”
The musician cited the Trump administration’s defunding of American universities such as Harvard, claiming it was happening because these institutions refuse to “bow down to their ideological demands.”
“They are removing residents off American streets and without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons… A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit President and a rogue government,” The Rising crooner stated.
According to Bruce Springsteen’s concert rant, the current US administration has no concern/ idea of what it means to be “deeply American.”
“The America l've sung to you about for 50 years is real and, regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people. So, we'll survive this moment… Let’s pray,” he said towards the end.
Bruce Springsteen concluded by sharing his hope with the audience and quoted the “great American writer” James Baldwin, who once said, “In this world there isn't as much humanity as one would like, but there's enough.”
The Only the Strong Survive singer has been a longtime and vocal critic of Donald Trump. During the 2024 presidential election, he endorsed Trump’s opponent, Democratic candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
In October 2024, he took to Instagram and shared a video where he extended his support for Harris-Walz and opposed Trump-Vance, with “full knowledge.” At the time, he referred to Trump as “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.”
“His disdain for the sanctity of our Constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him from the office of president ever again,” Bruce said.
Springsteen, who’s nicknamed ‘The Boss,’ also claimed back then that the POTUS failed to understand the meaning of USA, its spirit, history, and what it means to be “deeply American.” He also doubled down during the Harris-Walz campaign in Atlanta, Georgia, that same month.
In 2020, the E Street Band member told The Atlantic during an interview that Donald Trump was a “threat to democracy” and made “any kind of reform… harder.”
He also expressed doubt on whether the country could survive “another four years of his custodianship,” if Trump was re-elected to the Oval Office.
On the inaugural day in Manchester, Bruce Springsteen performed other politically-themed songs, including, Death to My Hometown from the 2012 LP Wrecking Ball, which focused on the Great Recession of 2007-2008, as well as Rainmaker from the 2020 album Letter to You.
It is based on corruption and exploitation in politics. My Hometown and Youngstown were other Bruce Springsteen songs that were played at the show.
Bruce Springsteen will continue with his 2025 Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour throughout this summer across several locations in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, until early July. The tour is the additional leg of the 2023 Letter To Run Tour.
