Bruce Springsteen says The E Street Band “is built for hard times,” which is why he felt so compelled to tour the US this spring.
“These are the moments when I think we can be of real value and real worth to the community,” Springsteen explained in a new interview with the Star Tribune. “These are moments that fill the band with purpose, so I try to fill the set list around those ideas.”
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“I don’t know of another time when the country has been as critically challenged and our basic ideas and values as critically challenged as they are right now,” he continued. “I’d have to go back to 1968 when I was 18 years old to another moment when it felt like the country was so on edge and like it felt there was simply so much at stake as far as who we are and the country we want to be and the people we want to be. It’s a critical, critical moment.”
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Springsteen is set to kick off his “Land of Hope and Dreams Tour” in Minneapolis next week, with further dates scheduled in Portland, Inglewood, San Francisco, Phoenix, Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, and Boston, before wrapping up in Washington, DC, on May 27th (get tickets here).
He has framed as the tour as musical rebuke of the second Trump administration, and a newly released tour promo shared ahead of next week’s launch provides something of a mission statement: “The E Street Band is coming your way, and we are bringing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, unity over division, and peace over war.”
Elsewhere in his interview with the Star Tribune, Springsteen discussed the blowback he receives for taking a political stand and why he “[doesn’t] worry about it.” He explained, “My job is very simple: I do what I want to do, I say what I want to say and then people get to say what they want to say about it. Those are the rules of my game. That’s fine with me. I don’t worry about if you’re going to lose this part of your audience. I’ve always had a feeling about the position we play culturally, and I’m still deeply committed to that idea of the band. The blowback is just part of it. I’m ready for all that.”
“As time passes — I’ve been doing this 60 years — so you do develop a pretty thick skin,” he added, “and it has served me well. I know who we are, I know the kind of band we are.”
Bruce Springsteen “Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour” 2026 Dates:
03/31 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center [Buy Tickets]
04/03 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center [Buy Tickets]
04/07 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum [Buy Tickets]
04/09 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum [Buy Tickets]
04/13 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center [Buy Tickets]
04/16 — Phoenix, AZ @ Mortgage Matchup Center [Buy Tickets]
04/20 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center [Buy Tickets]
04/23 — Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena [Buy Tickets]
04/26 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center [Buy Tickets]
04/29 — Chicago, IL @ United Center [Buy Tickets]
05/02 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena [Buy Tickets]
05/05 — Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena [Buy Tickets]
05/08 — Philadelphia, PA @ Xfinity Mobile Arena [Buy Tickets]
05/11 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden [Buy Tickets]
05/14 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center [Buy Tickets]
05/16 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden [Buy Tickets]
05/19 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena [Buy Tickets]
05/22 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Arena [Buy Tickets]
05/24 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden [Buy Tickets]
05/27 — Washington, DC @ Nationals Park [Buy Tickets]
