Bruce Springsteen brings “Streets of Minneapolis” to TV

Bruce Springsteen also brings his political tour to TV. Guest of the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, the Boss performed “Streets of Minneapolis”, the song dedicated to the people killed by ICE in Minnesota which has become the manifesto of a tour openly aligned against the current US administration. The choice of Colbert’s program is not random: the host who has made anti-Trump political satire a constant feature of his show, so much so that he was “cut” by CBS officially for financial reasons, but in reality to please the administration in view of a merger with Paramount, whose leaders are openly pro-Trump. Springsteen opened by thanking Colbert, and talking about “a president who can’t even take a joke.”

The “Land of Hope and Dreams Tour” is shaping up to be one of the most explicitly political tours of Springsteen’s recent career. As in last year’s European tour, the Boss included interventions against the current American political situation in the concerts, talking about themes such as inclusion, social justice and American identity – except that done in America and not on the old continent has a completely different effect.

This openly political profile also raised practical questions on the security front. Little Steven explained this to the English newspaper Daily Mail (which, due to its often sensationalistic stance, exaggerated the issue a bit). These are the words of Little Steven:

“This tour was a little different because of the high level of security.” And again: “This tour has a very specific political theme and there have been many threats, death threats. Usually there are always some, but this time they have increased.”