Bruce Springsteen: The Boss continues his anti-Trump tour in France

His voice was deep and raspy, his tone unctuous, like a prayer. "In a dangerous time, it's great to be back in France playing rock 'n' roll," Bruce Springsteen said Saturday night in Marseille. In the sold-out soccer stadium, he pointed to his America, to "the banner of hope and freedom," which was "currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treacherous government."

Bruce Springsteen had previously given two concerts in Lille, near the Belgian border, where he had never performed before. There, too, the message was unmistakable: "Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy to join us against authoritarianism and for the triumph of freedom!"

Jubilation in the land of "liberté, égalité, fraternité" for the E Street Band singer as he delivers the worst possible review of the Trump administration and the president himself. Springsteen was "more excited than ever" at the beginning of the Marseille concert, the daily newspaper "La Provence" reported in its online edition on Saturday evening.

After the first Lille concert, the public broadcaster "FranceNews" spoke of "heralding the revolt against Donald Trump," a "concert dedicated to resistance." "The hatchet between Bruce Springsteen and Donald Trump is far from buried," the newspaper "Le Figaro" wrote about the Lille debut.

"The Land of Hope and Glory" opened the show at Marseille's Orange Velodrome – the song in which Springsteen expressed his dream of America almost a quarter of a century ago. The Land of Equals – about an ideal America that never existed even before the Trump era, but which, in Springsteen's mind, is the goal.

"Leave your worries behind / let this day be the last (with worries) / tomorrow the sun will shine / and all the darkness will be gone," he begins the concert in Marseille. And then the metaphor that turns the song into gospel – that of "this train" rolling to that land where "dreams are not thwarted" and where "faith is rewarded." 60,000 fans sang along in Marseille.

Springsteen is the US superstar who dared to speak out. On May 14 in Manchester, he broke the long silence of artists following the election and Trump's rampage in office, launching a musical response. He probably owed it to himself. Perhaps he thought that otherwise, all the musical statements about America and Americans he had made for more than 50 years would lose their honesty.

No other US entertainer of this stature could have taken on the job. Springsteen is the working-class son who made it to the top, an ambassador for America known throughout the world, who maintained decency and dignity in all his actions and singing.

Early on, Springsteen wrote about the "darkness on the edge of town" that kept you stuck in your small life, while also writing about the pull of the road and the cars that pulled you away—the "'69 Chevy" in "Racing in the Street" and the "suicide machines" in "Born to Run." "We've got to get out of here while we're young," Springsteen sang. The goal was the big, wide America, whose promise was powerful.

Part of his target audience are Trump's MAGAs, who see things differently, especially since his stance against the president. On social media, they accuse Springsteen of alienating himself from the lower classes. They criticize his friendship with former President Barack Obama and see an insurmountable distance due to his wealth (Springsteen's estimated net worth as of July 2024, according to business magazine "Forbes": $1.1 billion), which also makes his songs dishonest. Springsteen's charity work (for example, for food banks)—the entertainment website "CelebrityAccess" calls him the "quiet philanthropist"—is ignored.

New York Times guest writer Eric Alterman, on the other hand, sees Springsteen's polyglot vision of the USA as an update of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal America. His America is a country "that recognizes not only the dignity and pride of honest work, but also the importance of honoring our differences, whether based on culture, gender, race, or ethnicity," the Brooklyn College English professor wrote in the newspaper on May 25. Springsteen's vision of America (and the world) can be found in his phrase, which he has repeated in countless concerts since the "No Nukes" concert in 1979: "No one wins, until everybody wins."

According to Alterman, "I only win when everyone else loses" is Trump's credo. The incumbent president (estimated net worth as of November 2024 according to Forbes: $6.6 billion) believes politics is a series of deals. His business dealings have "almost always been based on smoke, mirrors, his father's millions, and, these days, an elaborate crypto scheme that enriches the family." Trump has an ideology that exploits racism and resentment and demands dominance to make America "great again."

Paul Auster's daughter, singer Sophie Auster, who said back in March, without much media attention, that America was "heading toward a dictatorship," now has Springsteen as an amplifier. And the support the musician, nicknamed the Boss, receives for his statements has also grown. "I'm not afraid of you," Neil Young wrote on his website in reference to Trump. "And neither are the rest of us."

At a Pearl Jam concert in Pittsburgh, Eddie Vedder defended his fellow musician: "Part of freedom of speech is open discussion. Part of democracy is healthy public discourse," the singer said. "The insults are beneath us. Bruce has always been pro-American with his values ​​and his freedom, and his sense of justice has always remained intact. I say this to make sure that freedom of speech still exists in a year or two when I step in front of this microphone again."

Finally, he posted a photo of himself wearing a baseball cap that read "United States vs. Bruce Springsteen."

"I think there's only one boss in America," U2 singer Bono said on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show on May 27, referring to Springsteen's nickname. Trump had falsely accused Bono of receiving fees for appearances at Kamala Harris's campaign events – U2 performances that never took place. According to research by Newsweek, there is no evidence that any of the artists against whom Donald Trump announced a "major investigation" on his "Truth Social" platform – Beyoncé and Oprah were the others – were paid for a performance during Harris's campaign.

"It's called 'Truth Social,' but it seems very antisocial and it's not all that true," Bono said, raving about his co-accused: "To be in the company of Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, and Oprah—I'd be banging the tambourine in that band."

"Sorry, big baby, but there's only one boss!" songwriter Jason Isbell addressed Trump on social media. "Bruce is targeting Trump because Bruce has spent his life standing up for truth, justice, democracy, and equality," said Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against The Machine, at the Boston Calling music festival on May 25. "Trump's mad at him because Bruce draws a bigger audience," Morello added, echoing the theory of the offended pop star Trump. "Screw the guy," he concluded, playing Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

Three days earlier, Sheryl Crow had asked her audience at the same venue the rhetorical question: "What can I say - 'Bruce Springsteen for President'?" Then she took off her jacket and wore an old T-shirt with the Reagan-era slogan underneath. Mike Ness of the punk band Social Distortion asked his fans at the Punk Rock Bowling Festival in Las Vegas on May 26 to listen to "my friend Bruce." "T-Rump"—pronounced like a T-Rex—"is the worst president we've ever had."

More votes are sure to follow. Perhaps Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, arguably Kamala Harris's most popular pop supporters in the 2024 election campaign, will also be among them. The problem: Trump is vindictive. Vanity Fair, along with many other media outlets, reported back in February that Republicans feared Trump might incite his MAGA supporters to commit political violence against them if they didn't approve of his plans. An unnamed source from Trump's first administration told the magazine: "They're terrified of death threats and Gestapo-like things."

We know from the 2021 Epiphany experience that Trump can incite a crowd and then, just before the mob reaches operating temperature, retreat to wash his hands of any guilt. Now, there's the video Trump posted simulating that he tripped Springsteen with a golf ball from behind the stage.

Many found this fake attack (Springsteen tripped and fell at the Amsterdam concert in 2023) primitive, while others commented on it with glee. But what if Magas starts interpreting the video? Trump threatened after Springsteen's first fiery speech that he should just come home, "and then we'll all see what happens to him."

For now, Springsteen is still in Europe: "C'est la musique de la liberté – France – USA – liberté," he cried out in French as he bid farewell in Marseille, tapping his heart with his right hand before the E Street Band launched into the final song, "Chimes of Freedom," Bob Dylan's anthem of brotherhood: "They shine for warriors whose strength it is not to fight. / They shine for the fugitives on their unprotected path of escape / and for every single defeated soldier in the night. / We glimpsed the shining bells of freedom..."

Springsteen's "Mission: Democracy" continues on Wednesday in Liverpool. This will be followed by Berlin (June 11), Prague (June 15), Frankfurt (June 18), San Sebastian, Spain (May 15/18), Gelsenkirchen (June 27), and Milan (June 30/July 3). Audiences everywhere will hear his fiery speech against Trump.

After all these concerts, the tape will play "This Land is my land, this land is your land," an evergreen by folk musician and Dylan idol Woody Guthrie, who in 1940 wanted to share America with everyone instead of dividing it—as Trump does today. Guthrie had a sticker on his guitar at the time that read, "This Machine Kills Fascists," who weren't supposed to be on board.