Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s new Manchester live EP featuring anti-Trump speeches

Bruce Springsteen is releasing a live EP, ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ from the opening night of his current tour, which includes his speeches heavily criticising the Trump administration.

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Springsteen’s tour began at Manchester’s Co-Op Live last week and featured a number of politically charged speeches in which The Boss voiced his concerns for the government’s “corruption” and “incompetence” under Donald Trump.

In one moment, he told the audience: “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration. 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!”

The EP, recorded that night, contains four live tracks – ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’, ‘Long Walk Home’, ‘My City Of Ruins’ and a cover of Bob Dylan‘s ‘Chimes Of Freedom’. The speeches come in the introductions to ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ and ‘My City Of Ruins’.

Springsteen’s words prompted an alarming post from Trump on Truth Social, in which the President wrote: “I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK.”

“This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

The post drew the attention of The American Federation of Musicians (AFM), which issued a statement defending both the ‘Born to Run’ singer and Taylor Swift after Donald Trump attacked them both on social media.

Since then, Trump has called for an investigation into Springsteen, who he claims was paid by Kamala Harris for his “POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT,” while he also criticised other artists, including Bono and Beyoncé, in a run of Truth Social posts.

Numerous musicians have come to Springsteen’s defence. One of these was Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder (May 18): “Part of free speech is open discussion. Part of democracy is healthy public discourse,” he said. “The name-calling is so beneath us. Bruce has always been as pro-American with his values and liberty, and his justice has always remained intact. And I’m saying this now to be sure this freedom to speak will still exist in a year or two when we come back to this microphone.”

Neil Young also called out Trump for his response to Springsteen’s criticisms. He shared a new blog entry on the Neil Young Archives website, where he hit out at the President: “Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America. You worry about that instead of the dyin’ kids in Gaza. That’s your problem. I am not scared of you. Neither are the rest of us. You shut down FEMA when we needed it most. That’s your problem Trump. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT ROCKERS ARE SAYING. Think about saving America from the mess you made.”

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