Land of Hope and Dreams - Bruce Springsteen's Impact: Rob Horowitz
Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™
Land of Hope and Dreams - Bruce Springsteen's Impact: Rob Horowitz
As someone who grew up in New Jersey, went to college in Philadelphia and as a young adult lived for several years in Belmar, a Jersey shore town close to Asbury Park, I have stopped counting the number of Springsteen concerts I’ve seen. From his early songs, such as “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run,” and “Rosalita,” celebrating the promise of the open road and taking a chance on love-- or as some might say, getting the hell out of New Jersey-- to his more recent songs, such as “Last Man Standing” and “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” looking mortality squarely in the eye, Bruce Springsteen has been a constant for me over the years.
His concerts with the E Street Band are always high points, joyous, ebullient 3-to-4 hour celebrations of the power of great rock ' n ' roll, punctuated by poignant and occasionally funny stories told by one of the greatest live performers of all time. For the Springsteen faithful, they are a profound experience of community where most of the audience know the words to many of the songs, sing along, and stand throughout. Now that many of us have reached a certain age, we bring our grown-up children.
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The concerts were not explicitly political. It is the case that in the Trump era, Springsteen has emerged as a prominent critic of the president- and over the years, he has backed Democratic presidential candidates, including Obama, Kerry, and Harris, performing at campaign rallies. In concert, however, while some of his songs touch on political themes, he rarely ventures directly into the political fray.
Coupling well-executed brief monologues about the threat to our democracy and enduring American values posed by President Trump with a measured optimism about the prospect of American renewal, he managed to powerfully express the frustration most of the audience shared about the current condition of our nation without sounding overly preachy or doomsaying.
His song selection drove home the themes he struck. Bookended by the anti-war anthem, “War” and Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom,” the playlist included, "Streets of Minneapolis,” “Ghost of Tom Joad," "American Skin," “Youngstown," “The Rising,” and of course, "Land of Hope & Dreams.” Ensuring that the evening would still feel like a concert--not a political lecture--there was a robust sprinkling in of some of the usual favorites: "No Surrender," "Born to Run," "Tenth Ave. Freeze Out," "Badlands," and "The Promised Land," as well as a stirring rendition of a song he rarely plays in concert these days, "Darkness on the Edge of Town."
Springsteen was at his most emotional when speaking about the senseless deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the inspiration for his song, “Streets of Minneapolis.” He kicked off the tour in Minneapolis to honor their lives, highlight the dangerous overreach of the Trump Administration, which created havoc and loss of lives in an American city, and to call attention to the courage of the thousands of Minneapolis citizens whom through protesting and videoing the unjustified violent actions of too may ICE and Border Patrol agents forced the president to finally deescalate.
Before playing the final encore, Springsteen urged the audience to do their part to get our nation back on the right path, echoing John Lewis in telling us to "get in good trouble.” While Springsteen didn’t repeat the iconic civil rights leader and long-time Congressman’s full quote, I provide it now because it captures what he is getting at on this tour: “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America,” Lewis proclaimed. Or as “the Boss more pithily put it--"do something, say something, or sing something, that’s what I do.”