Bruce Springsteen dropped a fiery six-song live EP on Tuesday (May 20, 2025), capturing his recent performance at Manchester’s Co-op Live venue. The release serves as both a musical offering and a bold political statement targeting President Donald Trump.
The Land of Hopes and Dreams EP, recorded during The Boss’s electrifying May 14 show, showcases both Springsteen’s musical prowess and his passionate political commentary. Throughout the EP, the rock legend delivers powerful on-stage speeches where he takes aim at Trump — without explicitly naming him — condemning what he calls a “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll, in dangerous times,” Springsteen told the crowd. “We ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring.”
In response to Springsteen’s recent criticisms, Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, sharing a doctored video showing him hitting a golf ball that appears to strike Springsteen during a performance, causing him to fall. The 78-year-old former president also recently mocked the 74-year-old musician, calling him a “dried out prune.”
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“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,” Trump recently wrote on social media.
In the EP’s standout tracks, “Land of Hope and Dreams (Introduction)” and “My City of Ruins (Introduction),” Springsteen delivers searing commentary on hot-button issues including immigration policy, civil rights, and freedom of expression.
“This is all happening now,” Springsteen declared. “A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.”
The Manchester concert kicked off Springsteen’s latest U.K. tour and marks an intensification of his ongoing public clash with Trump. The rock icon has been a vocal critic of Trump since 2016, when he first labeled him a “conman” and a “moron.”
Full transcript of Springsteen’s remarks as heard in “Land of Hopes and Dreams” EP:
“Land of Hopes and Dreams (Introduction):
“Good evening. It’s great to be in Manchester and back in the UK. Welcome to The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour. The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times.
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 experience to rise with us. Raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”
“My City of Ruins (Introduction)”:
“Now, there’s some very weird, strange and dangerous s— going on out there right now.
In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now.
In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.
In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers, they’re rolling back historic Civil Rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society, they’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.
They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.
A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.
They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American. The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people.
So we’ll survive this moment.
Now, I have hope because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, in this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like. But there’s enough.
Let’s pray.”
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