Bruce Springsteen has hit out at Donald Trump as a “President who can’t handle the truth” while kicking off his 2026 tour dates alongside Tom Morello.
The rock icon launched his ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ tour in Minneapolis on Tuesday night (March 31), and used his time on stage to continue his long-running criticism of the US president.
At the gig at Target Center, Springsteen started his show by telling the crowd (via NewsBytes): “We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before.”
“We’ve got our young men and women’s lives at risk in an unconstitutional and illegal war,” he added, also criticising the targeting of immigrants by ICE agents and hitting out at Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Our Justice Department has completely abdicated its independence, and our Attorney General Pam Bondi takes her marching orders straight from a corrupt White House,” he said, accusing Bondi of prosecuting the president’s “perceived enemies” and covering up his alleged misdeeds.
“You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can’t handle the truth,” he continued, accusing Trump and his family of getting richer at the expense of working Americans in a “corruption unmatched in American history.”
“So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people,” he concluded. “So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.”
Fittingly, the show began with a cover of The Temptations’ hit song ‘War’, which saw him bring out Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello to the stage, and perform the cover for the first time since 2003.
Bruce Springsteen comes out with a powerful and badass intro to his Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour, kicks into Born in the USA.
Minneapolis, Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/fdqwwh0UTs
— M D V (@mvinge) April 1, 2026
Morello remained on stage to help perform ‘Born In The U.S.A’ and ‘Death To My Hometown’, and Springsteen later broke out his politically-charged new song ‘Streets Of Minneapolis’ for the first time with his E Street Band.
After renditions of ‘The Promised Land’, ‘Hungry Heart’ and more, Morello came back to the stage to help perform ‘American Skin (41 Shots)’, ‘Long Walk Home’, ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’, ‘Badlands’, ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’, and ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’ throughout the night.
He also helped close out the show with a cover of ‘Chimes Of Freedom’ by Bob Dylan, and Springsteen’s first cover of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ in 10 years.
Other covers played by Springsteen on the night included a rendition of ‘Because The Night’ by the Patti Smith Group, and more of his own classics included ‘Dancing In The Dark’ and ‘Born To Run’.
Check out more footage and the setlist below.
Bruce Springsteen’s setlist was:
‘War’ (The Temptations cover, with Tom Morello. First time since 2003)
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ (with Tom Morello)
‘Death to My Hometown’ (with Tom Morello)
‘No Surrender’
‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’
‘Streets of Minneapolis’ (first time with The E Street Band)
‘The Promised Land’
‘Out in the Street’
‘Hungry Heart’
‘Youngstown’
‘Murder Incorporated’
‘American Skin (41 Shots)'(with Tom Morello)
‘Long Walk Home’ (with Tom Morello)
‘House of a Thousand Guitars’
‘My City of Ruins’
‘Because the Night’ (Patti Smith Group cover)
‘Wrecking Ball’
‘The Rising’
‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ (with Tom Morello)
‘Badlands’ (with Tom Morello)
‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ (with Tom Morello)
Encore:
‘Born to Run’
‘Bobby Jean’
‘Dancing in the Dark’
‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’ (with Tom Morello)
‘Purple Rain’ (Prince cover. With Tom Morello, first time since 2016)
‘Chimes of Freedom’ (Bob Dylan cover, with Tom Morello)
‘This Land Is Your Land’ (Woody Guthrie song)
The gig came just one day after Bruce Springsteen played his anti-Trump protest song ‘Streets Of Minneapolis’ at a No Kings rally.
The single was first performed in January and was written as a direct response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretty by ICE officers that month, and he took the chance to play the song again for a Minnesota audience.
The Boss’ ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ tour will see him joined by Tom Morello at every date, with the tour set to run up until a stop in Washington DC on May 27. See the full list of dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
Before it even began, the tour already got backlash from the White House, with Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung saying: “When this loser Springsteen comes back home to his own City of Ruins in his head, he’ll realize his Glory Days are behind him and his fans have left him Out in the Street, putting him in a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out because he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain”.
Springsteen then reaffirmed the tour is “going to be political” and has confirmed that he is prepared for the “blowback”.
The music icon has previously called for the POTUS to be impeached and “consigned to the trash heap of history”. He has also described Trump as “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous”, and endorsed the No Kings movement against him last October.
