Take This Home With You: Let Freedom Ring

The indefatigable Bruce Springsteen just launched his aptly bittersweet Land of Hope & Dreams Tour in England, where he preceded three songs in turn with eloquent, furious critiques of the "weird, strange and dangerous shit going on in my home, the America I love" at the hands of "an unfit president and a rogue government." Unsurprisingly, the sick, vile man-child he cited then attacked and threatened him; stirringly, The Boss just said it all again the next night, darkly reiterating, "This is happening now."

Springsteen and his longtime E Street Band opened the tour last week with the first of three shows in Manchester at the massive Co-op Live; they plan to perform across the U.K., France, Spain, Germany and Italy through early July. At his first show, he appeared in the dark to "call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times." Before kicking into Land of Hope and Dreams, he delivered an impassioned screed lamenting, "In my home, in the America I love, the America I've written about (is) currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration." The crowd roared. "Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring."

His next spoken missive came before House of a Thousand Guitars. "The last check, the last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me," he proclaimed. "It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. At the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other." A few songs later, he stopped again before the somber, symbolic, post-9/11 My City of Ruins to detail some of what we're all seeing: "They are persecuting people for using their right to free speech...The richest men (are) abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death...They're (inflicting) pain (on) American workers, rolling back historic civil rights legislation...siding with dictators, defunding universities, removing ...residents off American streets and without due process of law are deporting them to foreign detention centers." After each atrocity, he testified, "This is happening now."

Late that night, the nasty asshole and childish cretin at the helm of those horrors had an(other) online meltdown, whining "Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen, not a talented guy" - who's won 20 Grammys, an Oscar, two Golden Globes, a Tony, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is internationally beloved and respected as one of the greatest artists and humans of all time - had gone to "a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States (sic.)" "Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics," he sneered of "just a pushy, obnoxious JERK...dumb as a rock" - massive pot/kettle moment here - who "ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country...Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

Because we live in a surreal, too-awful-to-fathom timeline, he then added the deeply insane insult that Springsteen - who remains impossibly fit and handsome at 75, three years younger than the grotesquerie spewing this shit - is a "dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!)." What the fuck, said the world. Sample with image: "Did I hear some really old dude accused Springsteen of looking like a prune?" Ever oblivious, MAGA nitwits piled on. "Springsteen is DONE!! Just Burned all his records tapes and everything else about him I had!!" railed one idiot who didn't seem to realize he'd already spent his money. A "Duane"who def deserves his name suggested attendees "consider taking legal action" for fraud cause they expected a concert and got a "political event." Boycotts were urged for Springsteen's "anti-American rhetoric and treasonous actions and hate speech." One response: "At first I thought this was brilliant satire, but it turns out you are just a moron." Also: "Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up."

Many more patriotic fans of the Boss celebrated his rectitude. "This is what standing for America looks like," wrote one. "Thank you @springsteen." After the Turgid One also randomly slammed Taylor Swift - don't ask - the American Federation of Musicians wrote they stood in solidarity with both Bruce - Local 47 in L.A.- and Swift - Local 257 in Nashville - as "not just brilliant musicians (but) role models and inspirations to millions of people across the world." Neil Young chimed in as a dual Canada/U.S. citizen to thank Bruce "for speaking so eloquently and truthfully on behalf of the American people. We are with you my old friend. Your great songs of America ring true as you sing them to Europe and the world!”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Alas, the madness wasn't done; these days, it never is. On Saturday, a couple of nights after the little whiner's ugly hissy fit, Springsteen held his second show in Manchester. To nobody's surprise - mensches gonna mensch - he again railed against the unending abuses of "an unfit president and a rogue government." "Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy," he asserted, "and they’re too important to ignore.” Again, he detailed, decried, denounced them: Shutting down free speech and dissent, abandoning the world's poor and sick, punishing workers, pressuring universities, rolling back civil rights, disappearances off the street without due process. Again, he emphasized, "This is happening now."

At 1:34 a.m., the mad child king started ranting online. "HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?" he screeched. "ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO??? I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter." Also, they tried to "build up her sparse crowds," "IT’S NOT LEGAL!," "these unpatriotic 'entertainers,'" and, "Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!” At 9:11 a.m. he was back at it, posting 33 times: Dems paid Beyoncé "millions of Dollars," "ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL!", "A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!"

He veered, raved, reviled. He shared a call for Obama to face "PUBLIC MILITARY TRIBUNALS." He reposted a bunch of freakish, AI-generated, Trump-centric art - "Slayer of the Deep State" - and videos of him rocking out to Don't Stop Believin' that made people who saw them want to drink or at least inject bleach. Comments: "What the actual fuck," "God save us please," and from George Conway, "It’s still hard for me to believe that after so many years of deranged posts like this, we’ve still never had a serious national conversation about this man’s mental health." Meanwhile, over at Fox News, the loyal bobbleheads somehow still gushed and prattled about how "gifted" their dear leader is: "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears."

But Springsteen kept talking; he even talked about hope. "We'll survive this moment," he said. "I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what great American writer James Baldwin said: 'In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.' So let’s pray." Again, he ended the concert with Dylan's Chimes of Freedom. He summoned the chimes of freedom flashing "for the warriors whose strength is not to fight/for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight," for the rebel, the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked, the "searching ones on their speechless, seeking trail, each "unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail." Again, he closed with, "Take this home with you." Amidst so much grim lunacy, we're trying.