Bruce Springsteen has blasted President Donald Trump at a surprise benefit gig appearance.
Springsteen jammed with Willie Nile, Gary US Bonds, and Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers at the annual Light of Day benefit show in Red Bank, New Jersey, on Sunday.
Shortly before playing The Promised Land, Springsteen delivered some frank remarks.
“I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility,” he said. “Right now we are living through incredibly critical times. The United States, the ideals and the value for which it stood for the past 250 years, is being tested like it has never been in modern times. Those values and those ideals have never been as endangered as they are right now.”
He continued, “If you believe in the power of law and that no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily-armed masked federal troops invading an American city, using gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens, if you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president, as the mayor of the city said: ICE should get the f**k out of Minneapolis. This song is for you and the memory of the mother of three and an American citizen, Renee Good.”
The speech was met by deafening cheers, and a smattering of groans from people on the other side of the political spectrum.
Springsteen and the Houserockers then played a blazing 14-song set that took the show well past midnight.
The singer, who wasn’t on the bill, has become one of the biggest champions of the event that battles Parkinson’s Disease and other related neuro-degenerative diseases.
Springsteen’s calendar is blank for the foreseeable future, although a solo album is expected to arrive at some point this year.
