Bruce Springsteen Launches New Tour With Politically Charged Set List

Before a single note of music was played at the opening night of the 2026 Land of Hope and Dreams Tour, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a typical Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert. In a break from decades of tradition, the band walked onto the stage in total darkness, visible to the crowd only in hazy silhouette. Springsteen came out last, and addressed the capacity crowd at the Target Center in Minneapolis, speaking much like he did at the city’s No Kings rally a few days earlier. 

“I want to begin the night with a prayer for our men and women overseas,” he said. “We pray for their safe return. The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock & roll in dangerous times. We are here in celebration and defense of our American ideals, democracy, our Constitution, and our sacred American promise. The America that I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that’s been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration.”

“Tonight,” he continued, “we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, unity over division, and peace over war.”

As final word “war” echoed through the arena, the stage lights flicked on. Springsteen and the band emerged from the darkness, and they ripped into Edwin Starr’s 1970 classic “War,” which they hadn’t played since America last started a Middle Eastern war in 2003. It was a fiery rendition featuring special guest Tom Morello on guitar, allowing Springsteen to roam the stage instrument-free, and it transitioned right into an impassioned “Born in the U.S.A.,” a song Springsteen recently allowed the ACLU to use in their battle to overturn Trump’s anti-birthright citizenship executive order. (In remarkable timing, the Supreme Court was a little over 12 hours away from hearing oral arguments in the landmark case about whether people born in the U.S.A. are citizens.)

If these were ordinary times, this tour wouldn’t even be happening. Springsteen has worked heavily on the road in recent years, and was planning to move his attention toward a new solo record. But these are nothing close to ordinary times. And after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE officers in January, Springsteen felt his response couldn’t be limited to his new protest song “Streets of Minneapolis,” and appearances at a handful of No Kings rallies. He decided to convene the E Street Band with little notice, book arenas across the country, beginning in the town that served as the epicenter of the ICE resistance movement, and channel his righteous fury into something productive and unifying. 

The result was a band with a renewed set of purpose, and one of the most inspiring rock concerts I’ve ever seen. Songs Springsteen has played almost to the point of exhaustion over the years somehow sounded as fresh as the day he wrote them. This was clear early in the night when the spotlight hit him during the bridge of “No Surrender” (“There’s a war outside still raging/You say it ain’t ours anymore to win/I want to sleep beneath/Peaceful skies in my lover’s bed),” and it was suddenly about the war in Iran without a single lyrical alteration. Moments like that happened over and over throughout the three-hour set.

Prior to the E Street Band premiere of “Streets of Minneapolis,” Springsteen again spoke to the crowd. “This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis,” he said. “Well, they picked the wrong town. The power of solidarity, of the people of Minneapolis, was an inspiration to the entire country. Your strength and your commitment told us this is still America, and this will not stand. Minnesota, you gave us hope. You gave us courage. And for those who gave their lives, Renee Good, mother of three, brutally murdered, and Alex Pretti, VA nurse, executed by ICE and left to die in the street without even the decency of our lawless government investigating their deaths. Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten.”

Springsteen stopped the song midway through to lead a chant of “ICE out now!” that grew louder and louder with every repeat until the walls of the venue were practically shaking. Amazingly, there didn’t seem to be a single boo or any cries of dissent. Springsteen’s right-wing fans clearly got the message that this show wasn’t for them. (And it wasn’t a very subtle message since he slapped the No Kings logo onto many of the tour posters.)

Politics took a brief reprieve for a River double shot of “Out in the Street” and “Hungry Heart.” On the latter tune, Springsteen made the seemingly impromptu decision to shove the mic into Max Weinberg’s face and have him sing a few lines of the chorus, much to the amusement of the other band members. (Weinberg is a man of many talents, but singing is most definitely not one of them.) 

The calendar moved from 1980 to the 1999/2000 E Street Band reunion tour for “Youngstown,” “Murder Incorporated,” and “American Skin (41 Shots).” Tom Morello had been off the stage since the opening trio of songs, but he returned for “American Skin (41 Shots)” to play his guitar part from the 2014 High Hopes studio rendition. 

Morello stuck around for “Long Walk Home,” which Springsteen introduced as “a prayer for our country.” He wrote that prayer in response to George W. Bush’s assault on our constitutional order back in 2007, and nobody could have imagined that nearly 20 years later we’d be even further away from the American home that our founders once envisioned. (Coincidentally, Neil Young revived his own “Long Walk Home” on tour last summer. It’s a different song with a near identical message, proving that great minds indeed think alike.)

The stage cleared so Springsteen could deliver a solo acoustic rendition of “House of a Thousand Guitars” from 2020’s Letter to You. The song survived a mere two shows of the 2023 Letter to You tour before it was dropped, but lines like “the criminal clown has stolen the throne/he steals what he can never own” have much greater resonance with Trump back in the White House.

When the band returned, keyboardist Roy Bittan softly played the opening of “My City of Ruins” while Springsteen delivered yet another address. “Here in the States, we are living through some very dark times,” he said. “Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before…Our justice department has completely abdicated its independence, and our attorney general, Pam Bondi, takes her marching orders straight from a corrupt White House. She prosecutes our president’s perceived enemies, covers up for his misdeeds, and protects his powerful friends. And this is happening now…So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people. So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love. Are you with us?” 

As the crowd roared in approval, Springsteen began to sing a gospel-tinged “My City of Ruins.” This is a very malleable song that was originally written in 2000 as a tribute to Springsteen’s decaying hometown of Asbury Park, New Jersey. A year later, he repurposed it as an ode to New York City following 9/11. And after Clarence Clemons died in 2011, it was again reborn in honor of the late saxophonist. But the city in ruins is now all of America, and the “rise up” refrain at the end has become a call to take to the streets and demand justice.

Morello appeared again for “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” and the main set wrapped up with “Badlands” and “Land of Hope and Dreams,” before the house lights came on for encores of “Born to Run,” “Bobby Jean,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” 

Even though it’s been a standard encore for quite some time, “Rosalita” did not come out. Fans instead received a surprise cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” dedicated to the “maestro,” with Morello and Nils Lofgren teaming up for the climactic guitar solo. 

“These are the hard times, but we’ll make it through,” Springsteen said, concluding on a brighter note. “This is a tour that was not planned. We’re here tonight because we need to feel your hope, and your strength. We want to bring some hope and some strength to you. I hope we did that. All I can say is God bless Alex Pretti, God bless Renee Good, God bless you, and God bless America.” 

Springsteen said goodbye to the audience by breaking out “Chimes of Freedom” for the first time in America since 1988. Bob Dylan wrote that song during a dark time in American history when civil rights marchers were being brutally beaten in the streets, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 seemed unlikely to survive unified Southern opposition in the House of Representatives. But Dylan’s words still permeate with hope that a brighter future is just around the corner, despite the “mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail.” 

That same hail is falling right now. It’s impossible to know when it will stop. But for the next eight weeks, Springsteen and the E Street Band are taking this incredible show all across America, creating a refuge from the chaos at every stop. 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 3/31/26 setlist at the Target Center in Minneapolis

War
Born in the U.S.A.
Death to My Hometown
No Surrender
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Streets of Minneapolis
The Promised Land
Out in the Street
Hungry Heart
Youngstown
Murder Incorporated
American Skin (41 Shots)
Long Walk Home
House of a Thousand Guitars
My City of Ruins
Because the Night
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
Born to Run
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Purple Rain
Chimes of Freedom