Bruce Springsteen warns on his European tour of America's soul steam

Bruce Springsteen warns on his European tour of America's soul steam

You know everything about the glorious days on the Kop-the legendary grandstand, which is the spiritual home of the fans of Liverpool-the Premiers League masters in England. But what they are less used to are political calls for help. So it was Surreal to watch with thousands of British in midfolio how Bruce Springsteen complained about the Democracy Crisis in America on a sacred football ground.

A call to unity

"The America I love ... A lighthouse of hope and freedom for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treacherous administration," said Springsteen on Wednesday evening in the Anfield Stadium. The passionate warnings of the boss about authoritarianism on his European tour met with great approval, but seemed to some fans who do not live in constant cycle of tensions that shake the American psyche to run into nothing.

a celebration of music and commitment

The Liverpudlian had been waiting for decades that Springsteen played home of the Beatles, whose “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” shaped the life path of the young Bruce in New Jersey. Most had a hungry heart for a party and got a great show - but also a lesson in American citizenship.

artists in difficult times

"Tonight we ask everyone who believes in democracy and the best of our American experiment to raise our voices with us, to fight with us against authoritarianism and to let the freedom sound!" said Springsteen. His European odyssey unfolds while western democracies are again shaken by right populism. This determination to deal with burning comments raises several questions.

questions about the relevance of the artists

What place do artists have in what Springsteen calls "dangerous times"? Can you make a difference, or should stars in the field of entertainment and sport avoid politics and concentrate on what you know? Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham, for example, riet basketball icon LeBron James that he should simply "hold his mouth and dribble".

The challenges of artistic engagement

Springsteen's rough hymns to steel cities and dilapidated places made him a balladur in the working class. But if the voters of the working class flock to the right in droves, do he really speak for them? This is the question of trying to answer the Springsteen in Liverpool urgently: does the rough but noble America, which he has mythologized for 50 years, still exist?

The political tensions in the USA and Great Britain

Trump would certainly like to point out the art - given his threats in social media against artists such as Springsteen and Taylor Swift and his takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Every area of ​​liberals and free thinking, from pop music to the Ivy League universities, is susceptible to authoritarian impulses. Nevertheless, celebrities are often bored with their trendy political views, especially with Hollywood ceremonies. Springsteen, on the other hand, has written social comments for decades. And what would rock ’n’ roll, if not rebellion? Usually rockers make their resistance in their youthful naughty, not in their 70s, but in desperate times, desperate measures are required.

The shift in political landscapes

There are also warning signals in England. The UK tours of the boss often fell together with political turning points. In the 1970s he found a synergy with the smoky industrial cities in the north. In his “Born in the USA” phase, he came to the side of mining workers who were committed to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. A new BBC documentary revealed that in the 1980s he gave $ 20,000 to a support group for strikes.

Liverpool, a soulful, down-to-earth city that seems to come directly from Springsteen's oeuvre, has long been a heart of the Labor party. But in a recent by-election, the Pro-Trump Reform Party of Nigel Farage has a Labor majority of almost 15,000 votes in Runcorn, a dilapidated industrial city 15 miles from Liverpool. This shock showed that the “red wall” of the Labor working class is in great danger and may be moving to the right similar to Ohio, while the workers turn their back on progressive politicians.

look into the future

Although many Americans are confronted with the challenges, there is little evidence that Trump or his populist counterparts in Great Britain will contribute significantly to solve these problems. They have always been better to take advantage of vulnerability than to remedy them. And Trump's "Big, Beautiful Law" would affect the poor by restricting access to medicaid and support for nutrition, while it grants great tax cuts to the rich.

"Whenever the conditions in a country are ripe for a demagogue, they can be sure that one will appear," said Springsteen of the crowd in Liverpool and introduced "Rainmaker", a song about a fraudster who tells drought-plagued farmers that "white is black and black." While the E Street Band used, Springsteen added: "This is for America's loved one."

The struggle for America's soul

Springsteen has his “land of hope and dreams” while Trump has his new “golden era”. He claims that he could "make America great again" by attacking alleged bastions of more liberal power such as elite universities and the press, depriving mass and documented immigrants and challenging them on the basis of the Due Process. Springsteen implicitly rejected this in Liverpool and gave the text lines of "Long Walk Home", a song that was created for a decade before Trump's first election victory, a deeper meaning: "Your flag that blows above the courthouse means that certain things are carved in stone. Who we are not doing and what we will not do."

While he released the fans into a cool summer night, the boss appealed to her not to give up for his country. "The America that I have been singing about for 50 years is real and regardless of its many defects, a great country with great people, and we will survive this moment," he said. However, his struggle with Trump around the soul of America will continue. The contrast will be more felt to the Americans if he tours the American floor in this, the most politically charged phase of his decades of career. Maybe in 2026, the 250th birthday of America?