Bruce Springsteen’s emotionally charged, politically angry, and incredibly moving Land of Hope and Dreams tour pulled into Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on a gorgeous spring night, Thursday, May 14th. The sold-out crowd got to experience The Boss with the full E-Street Band, along with special guest Tom Morello, delivering twenty-seven powerful songs as well as a few from-the-heart speeches from Springsteen.
Bruce began the show with a direct address attacking the corrupt President and his enablers before dropping dramatically into a cover of “War” by Edwin Starr, as the large arena sang along to the iconic tune. The righteous anger continued as the band segued directly into “Born In The USA,” a Vietnam War protest tune that still rings true today. Morello took over lead vocals for the group’s cover of The Clash’s “Clampdown” as he fired off guitar riffs and scratches with laser-like precision.
Springsteen was clearly moved by the high-profile murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by ICE in Minneapolis earlier this year; he name-checked them multiple times throughout the show and delivered his newest song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” early on with chilling seriousness. It even overshadowed the hopeful “Promised Land”, not an easy task. That is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this current tour, as some of Bruce’s lesser-known songs pack more of a punch than the ‘hits’ because of the focused political anger and flow of the show.
The crowd favorite “Hungry Heart” was a break from the political fervor, but things returned to serious business during the run of “Youngstown”, “Murder INC”, “American Skin (41 Shots)” and “Long Walk Home”. The gorgeous horn showcase “My City of Ruins” hit home in these tough economic times before “Because The Night” featured a spinning guitar solo from Nils Lofgren.
The main set hit a crescendo with the theatrical duo of “Ghost of Tom Joad,” which showcased more fretboard fireworks from Morello and “Badlands,” containing huge drumming from Max Weinberg. The main set ended with the tour’s theme song before a five-song encore that began with Celtic-influenced folk rock of “American Land”.
The lights went on for the classic hit “Born To Run,” while “Dancing In The Dark” was extended to let The Boss play to the crowd. The gospel-influenced rendition of “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” was a spiritual gathering before Bruce gave another passionate speech about the dire state of the country.
The show closed with another cover: Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom”. Even with exercising a few verses the tune still carried tremendous weight, wrapping up a strong, focused night that found one of the biggest artists in the world using his voice to fight back against encroaching fascism in a country he loves.
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