Bruce Springsteen will perform his anti-ICE protest song “Streets of Minneapolis” in the Twin Cities on Saturday (March 28) during the No Kings rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. The appearance will come just a few days before The Boss kicks off his Land of Hope and Dreams tour on Tuesday (March 31) at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Springsteen confirmed that he will play “Streets of Minneapolis” at the event, the politically charged song he surprise dropped in January as a broadside against the Trump administration’s deadly incursion into the city that resulted in the killing of two American citizens: 37-year-old mother of three Renée Good and 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti.
“You want to try to meet the moment,” Springsteen told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Monday afternoon. “The No Kings movement is of great import right now. When you have the opportunity to sing something where the timing is essential and if you have something powerful to sing, it elevates the moment, it elevates your job to another level. And I’m always in search of that.”
In addition to Springsteen, the event will feature appearances from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, as well as actress/activist Jane Fonda, folk icon Joan Baez and singer Maggie Rogers. According to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 80,000 people are expected at Saturday’s event, the third in a series of increasingly larger protests against the Trump administration.
TIME magazine reported that in the midst of the grinding air war against Iran, sky-high gasoline prices, historically low approval ratings for Trump and unprecedentedly long lines at airports amid the latest government shutdown, signs are pointing to Saturday’s 3,000 nationwide protests potentially being the largest day of domestic protest in U.S. history.
Springsteen’s decision to kick off his upcoming U.S. tour in Minneapolis is a pointed rejoinder to the Trump administration, which drew widespread criticism earlier this year for surging immigration troops into Minnesota against the wishes of the state’s governor and the Mayor of Minneapolis. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legend’s reaction to the killings of Good and Pretti came in the form of the moving song, on which he sings, “Through the winter’s ice and cold/ Down Nicollet Avenue/ A city aflame fought fire and ice/ ‘Neath an occupier’s boots/ King Trump’s private army from the DHS/ Guns belted to their coats/ Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law/ Or so their story goes.”
Earlier this week, Springsteen made a surprise appearance at Manhattan’s historic Riverside Church, where he performed “Streets of Minneapolis” and sang “People Have the Power” alongside Patti Smith and Michael Stipe at Democracy Now!’s 30th anniversary event.
Click here to see the growing list of Saturday’s No Kings events.
