MINNEAPOLIS – With a mighty roar and a raised fist, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band made a defining opening statement: “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.”
That Springsteen and the band chose to open their Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour on March 31 with the 1970 Edwin Starr anthem was hardly surprising, especially with the first of 20 shows taking place in Minneapolis, a political hotbed in recent months.
Clad in black and adopting his singular ability to galvanize a crowd, Springsteen, 76, started the show asking for prayers for the “men and women overseas … we pray for their safe return.”
His voice rising, Springsteen then asked the sold-out crowd at the Target Center to join him in celebrating the “righteous power of art and music” and to “choose hope over fear.”
“We live in dangerous times,” he said, before condemning the “corrupt, incompetent, racist … treasonous” administration of President Donald Trump.
