musicians

“My name is Marwan Abdelhamid,” he said. “Born in Jerusalem, raised in Gaza. Left it at seven and haven’t been back since. This is the story of so many Palestinians.” He sounded a little nervous, but it soon dissipated. On stage, he marshalled that same mischievous energy that runs through everything from his social media clips to his music videos. In between songs, he addressed the crowd, bringing it back to the fraught political moment, to Gaza. Often, he told them, he would be told: “Shhh, don’t talk about Palestine.” Often, he admitted, he asked himself how he could be singing and dancing when his people were dying. But joy in our culture was our right, he said.

You may have heard that the Boss has been opening his concerts on the Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour with a call to action for Americans to save their democracy. “We live in dangerous times,“ he says, before singing a cover of the song “War.” “War. What is it good for? Nothing.”

In a time when far too many people are afraid to speak up, Springsteen’s candor is profoundly moving and reassuring—even when he performs songs that reflect on dark moments, like “Streets of Minneapolis,” which he wrote in response to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota.

"You're the first guy in America who's lost his show because we've got a president who can't take a joke," Springsteen said wryly, criticizing David Ellison, CEO of CBS's parent company Paramount, and his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, a longtime Trump ally. (CBS has said the cancellation was "purely a financial decision.")

"These are small-minded people," the singer added, playing alone with an acoustic guitar and harmonica strapped around his neck. "They have no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about."