SUNRISE — Performer Bruce Springsteen brought his “Land of Hope and Dreams” rock and resistance tour to President Donald Trump’s backyard on April 23 with a plea to unite in “choosing hope over fear.”
In a preamble to the three-hour concert, held a day before Trump is to arrive in Palm Beach for his 26th visit this term, Springsteen asked attendees to pray for U.S. military personnel in harm’s way.
“The Boss” then launched into a scathing indictment of the president, who just this month called the Hall of Fame rocker and music legend a “total loser” and “not a talented guy.” Springsteen blistered the second Trump administration as “corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless” as the sold-out crowd drowned him out with boisterous cheers.
“We are here in celebration. and defense of our American ideals, democracy, our Constitution, and our sacred American promise,” Springsteen declared.
“Tonight, we ask for all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war.”
He and his fabled E Street Band then launched into the concert set list with their rendition of the 1969 classic “War (What is good for?)” followed by the band’s own anti-Vietnam War anthem, “Born in the USA.”
They were joined by performer, songwriter and activist Tom Morello, who at one point played a guitar with “Arm the Homeless” scrawled across the instrument.
Springsteen, Trump: No love lost between rock star, president
Springsteen has drawn Trump’s ire by repeatedly speaking out against the administration’s policies.
In May 2025, Trump said Springsteen was “pushy” and an “obnoxious jerk” after the New Jersey-born artist first spoke out against the president while on a European tour at the time Trump was deriding U.S. allies and trading partners in rolling out a tariff global policy.
The enmity turned caustic this winter after the administration’s immigration crackdown turned violent and deadly in Minneapolis, where two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal agents.
As Springsteen kicked off the current American tour, Trump again turned to social media, this time in a personal attack, writing that Springsteen is a “dried up prune” and posting a doctored image of the rocker that belittled his appearance.
The president called for a public boycott of the tour, a notable threat given that Springsteen’s home turf of coastal New Jersey was decidedly red MAGA country in the 2024 presidential election.
That urging was soundly dismissed by the capacity crowd at the Amerant Bank Arena, where Trump held an exuberant rally in November 2019 on the eve of his first impeachment and the monumental 2020 pandemic and election year.
At the Springsteen concert, the crowd filled up even the obstructed view sections behind the stage. Many in attendance wore clothing with political statements, from “No Kings” to “End Fascism.”
Immigration protest song resonates in South Florida Springsteen concert
Springsteen played a mix of his classics, including “Born to Run,” “Hungry Heart” and “Badlands.” But his newest single, “Streets of Minneapolis,” a protest against the immigration crackdown literally hit close to home.
The arena lies on the edge of Broward urban development, bordered by the same Everglades wetlands where roughly 70 miles to the southwest lies the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center.
The arena is also in the congressional district represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who made an unannounced inspection of the facility on April 9. Wasserman Schultz decried conditions at the detention camp saying “everything about this screams inhumane and unnecessary.”
Later that day, Trump weighed in on a different immigration issue in Florida — the murder of a store clerk in Fort Myers by a Haitian national who the president seethed in stating the man was an example of the “dumping” into the United States of “Criminals, Lunatics, and the Mentally Insane from all over the World.”
In introducing “Streets of Minneapolis,” Springsteen criticized the holding of immigrants in for-profit detention centers and their being deported without due process of law to “alien countries and foreign prisons.”
He also spoke about two Minneapolis residents, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, whose killings at point-blank range by immigration agents shocked the nation and led to the withdrawal of the so-called “surge” of agents enforcement personnel in the Twin Cities.
“They picked the wrong town,” Springsteen said of the weeks of massive resistance by the cities’ residents that capture the country’s attention. “The power and solidarity of the people of Minnesota was an inspiration to the entire country.”
After the song ended, Springsteen again spoke, this time lauding the work of the Florida Immigration Coalition, a statewide advocacy network. On April 24, the coalition’s executive director, Renata Bozzeto, said she appreciated Springsteen’s comments and criticism of Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.
“Florida has become the hotspot for Trump’s immigration witch-hunt, and [Gov. Ron] DeSantis has turned Florida police departments into the invisible tentacles of ICE when deputizing officers as immigration agents,” she said in a statement. “We are grateful for artists like Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band who are standing up for what’s right and calling on our community to be united against fascism.”
Springsteen has Palm Beach County connections, too
For Springsteen, the South Florida tour date was a return to a part of the state with which he, his family and E Street Band members are familiar. His daughter, Jessica Springsteen, is a championship equestrian who has competed for years at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington.
Clarence Clemmons, the E Street band’s iconic saxophonist, was a resident of Singer Island. He died in June 2011 at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. During the Sunrise concert, Springsteen and E Street Band played homage to their late colleague with a montage of photos and videos.
The remembrance took place near the end of the performance, just before the rock star acknowledged each of the performers on the stage. He then thanked concertgoers for their “longstanding support” and closed with a message of optimism.
“These are hard times, but … we’ll make it through,” he counseled. “We will make it through.”
Springsteen then acknowledged the “hardest part for me” is the way political polarization has created distance between Americans of all walks.
“That distance between you and your neighbors, your fellow citizens, that can darken your soul,” he said, adding that disagreement should be tolerated.
“I don’t want to live that way. From the beginning, America was built on disagreement. It was born out of argument and disagreement about what course we thought the country should take while still recognizing our common humanity, our dignity and our unity.”
Springsteen said to those feeling equally hopeless, frustrated and angry that he does, too, and pleaded with fans to find a way to “take aggressive, peaceful action to defend our country’s ideals.” Which is why he said he and his bandmates decided to launch this tour.
“That’s why the E Street Band is here with you tonight. We didn’t plan this tour. We’re here because we need it,” Springsteen conceded.
“I needed to hear your voice and your hope and your strength. I needed to see you. And I hope we’ve given you some hope and some strength tonight. … God bless you, and God bless America.”
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Springsteen’s resistance tour in Florida amid heated words with Trump
Reporting by Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
