Hey Bruce! Please Shut The Hell Up And Sing!

    I haven’t thought about Bruce Springsteen in a while…a long while. But then I talked to a friend of mine…and it got a little crazy! The America that Springsteen sees today does not actually exist. But don’t tell that to The Boss. He is touring the country promoting his version of Trump’s America…a dark and desolate place where freedom hangs by a thread. If the facts don’t align with his world view, well, that’s too bad. You already bought your ticket. Your very expensive ticket, I might add.

    “$1,000 for upper seats,” my friend and longtime Boss-fan complained. “Really? He was the one fighting this and now you can’t get tickets at a decent price. I’ve always had floor seats (26 concerts of his) and now floor seats are $7,000. I don’t think I’m using a mortgage payment on seats.” I hear that. I had an opportunity at the farewell Genesis tour a number of years back, at about the same prices. But there was no way I was shelling out that kind of cash to watch the boys do Mama and Turn It On Again, with Phil in a wheel chair. However, at least in concerts past, I was always spared political preaching from my favorite band. And speaking of favorite bands, I’ve probably said this before in this space, but I’ve been to a million Little Feat shows. Love that band! Huge! And I don’t really care that I’m probably the only conservative in the hall or theater. Why? Because they don’t preach. I mean, one tour the guitarists had a picture of George W. Bush with a red slash through it on a button hanging from their guitar straps…but I can live with that; just don't preach to me. Shut up and sing Two Trains, Dixie Chicken, Fat Man In The Bathtub, Oh, Atlanta, etc. And they did. I was happy! Anyway…back to Phil. Never any preaching from Phil; just music! What a concept!

    Not so with the Jersey Bard. Springsteen’s progressive activism, something he has embraced with greater intensity in recent years, is now in steroid-overdrive. He spent the last year criticizing Trump from various concert stages. His current tour is like “No Kings” central; a chance to bloviate on a nightly basis.

    If you’d rather hear him just sing, better luck next tour. Except at 76, how many tours does The Boss still have in him? Either way, Springsteen’s rhetoric remains over the top on all things Trump. That’s not uncommon on the celebrity circuit. It’s actually rare to hear the opposite.

    So what’s the point? Is Springsteen trying to change hearts and minds? Is he reaching out to MAGA types to convince them they made a terrible, even evil, choice? His attempts at persuasion suggest otherwise. Does the following rhetoric sound like he’s reaching across the aisle with an open, welcoming hand?

    “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.” And some of you think I’m ego-centric. Boys and girls, welcome to Narcissism 101.

    He’s ready to lose fans, in the grand Jimmy Kimmel tradition. And can I digress for a moment to say what a jack-ass Kimmel is? No, not because he is on the Left and I am a little to the Right of him. See what I did there? But because no intelligent person gives a damn about his political “hot takes.” Please, Sancho is smarter than this guy! Tru dat, Boss!! Man, do I miss Johnny Carson. Sorry, where was I? Oh, yeah. Bruce (can I call him Bruce?) doesn’t seem interested in connecting with those wary of his political hot takes. Wouldn’t that be the more pragmatic approach? 

    Again, consider Springsteen’s unchecked ego: “These are the moments when I think we can be of real value and real worth to the community. These are moments that fill the band with purpose, so I try to fill the set list around those ideas.” Real value to the community? What value? He’s turned into a touring version of Robert De Niro (and I love DeNiro as an actor), a broken record who, unfortunately, can’t get his facts straight on critical matters. Did ICE really murder Renee Good, or did the far-Left activist drive her car into an ICE agent, forcing his actions. 

    Better yet, does Springsteen still think celebrities can sway national elections? Remember when stars who shined even brighter than Springsteen promoted Kamala Harris in 2024? How did that work out? He may be The Boss, but Taylor Swift is currently the biggest star in the modern galaxy. 

    Now, let’s sample some of Springsteen’s on-stage rhetoric: “We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before. We’ve got our young men and women’s lives at risk in an unconstitutional and illegal war.” Really? Challenged as never before? I guess Bruce skipped school the week his high school history class taught The Civil War. Look, I know The Boss isn’t attending MENSA meetings in between shows, but c’mon. 

    “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.” And here I thought many people were for a great music concert. My bad.  I recently wrote a piece to the effect that some med school students in the Midwest published a manifesto about wanting to save the world from Western Civilization, white people, and other evils, instead of “Doing No Harm.” Well, can I get The Boss to shut the hell up and sing Rosalita? Please?? I love that song. 

    Actually, I saw him in concert once, a long time ago, just outside of Boston. I always thought he sounded like a garage mechanic, and that just didn't appeal to me back in high school as I had to listen to him ad nauseam on the 8-track because the lovely Darlene, who obviously lost a bet to go out with me way back then, absolutely LOVED Sprinsteen. The things we do for love, huh?! So, while not a big fan, I thought he was great that night in Worcester, Mass. The tour was during a break from the E Street Band, and it was all about his two solo albums. No politics, not a lot of the classics, but that was okay. He put on a helluva show! And I became, up to a point, a fan.

    Fast forward to the present day, and it would seem, from multiple testimonials that his concerts are now “MSNBC, The Musical.” And trust me, it’ll cost fans far more than a monthly cable fee to hear it live. If Springsteen REALLY wanted to help his country, he could follow two distinct paths. One, in the interest of reaching out, maybe mention the foibles of his own party. It wasn’t long ago that Democrats hid a frighteningly cognitively-impaired president from the public, along with a willing Legacy Media apparatus. It remains one of the biggest scandals of the 21st century, and no one has paid the price for it. Had The Boss weighed in on that however many years ago, I might take his current screeds a tad more seriously. Plus, shouldn’t an elder rock statesman at least attempt some sort of conciliatory outreach for his more conservative fans? Blasting Team Trump as “corrupt, incompetent, racist,” etc. (however true), does no such thing. It’s red meat for his far-Left fan base. Nothing more. And what about those fans? Could he ask his accountants to shave a few bucks off the current ticket prices? Do they really want to pay all that money for lectures they can hear on social media or from Kimmel? Is that really worth the price of admission? Or, better yet, maybe he should just, you know, sing. I know, I know…he has a right to whatever. I get it. And I will defend him in that regard. But, and there’s always a But. People are dropping 7-Large hoping to sing along to their favorites. Kind of like Billy Joel, now…or James Taylor. Fans don’t pay that kind of money for a Robert DeNiro-wannabe! 

    Springsteen, who works harder and longer on stage than 99% of all other performers past or present, is morphing into the aforementioned De Niro before our very eyes, and that’s not good for him, his fans, or the rest of us. These cultural icons are turning their golden years into a sad, traveling Trump Derangement Syndrome circus. I mean, if that’s your thing and you don’t mind being lectured to…good for you. Have at it. I just think it’s sad that a performer of his caliber would give the finger to a significant portion of his audience, as there are millions of conservatives who love Springsteen. 

    On the other hand, these are the times we live in. Right, Rosalita? 

Write to Peter" magtour@icloud.com