A week ago, Bruce Springsteen joined Bernie Sanders, Joan Baez, and Jane Fonda at a "No Kings" rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, to combine Octogenarian-Palooza and Boomer-Fest into one event during which they'd bravely stand up to President Donald Trump. Springsteen has been advertising his tour as a fight against authoritarianism, and even announced that fellow capitalist success story Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine (From Inside the Machine) would be joining the tour on guitar.
The tour is live, and as Twitchy reported, TIME magazine attended his Minneapolis show and declared on X, "Historians may remember the performance as one of the most unflinching acts of musical and theatrical resistance mounted against Trump—or any President, for that matter—in the nation’s history." Yeah, no. Historians are not going to be writing about a Springsteen concert. TIME reported that Springsteen called America a "predatory rogue nation" under Trump's leadership.
I'm no Springsteen fan. I've never owned a Springsteen album. I've never seen him live, which I'm told you have to do. I might listen to "Glory Days" if it comes on the radio at a time when the alternative station is playing commercials. The last time I paid attention to him was when his "everyman" persona in the '90s released an album called "The Ghost of Tom Joad," named after the protagonist of "The Grapes of Wrath." I've studied John Steinbeck, and you, Bruce Springsteen, are no John Steinbeck."
Front-row seats were reportedly going for $3,000 (before scalper markup).
I did have some morbid curiosity about what Springsteen was going to say, but then Dr. Jebra Faushay posted a fan-shot clip from the concert, in which old 76-year-old Springsteen set aside his Telecaster and grabbed a chair so he could go on his rant. This is what people were paying thousands to see:
Imagine paying $850 for general admission standing-room only seats for a Bruce Springsteen concert?
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) April 2, 2026
And then he gets up there and just lectures you about how much he hates Trump?
Was that a mention of the new world order? pic.twitter.com/OPkiVVkXGN
You couldn't PAY me to attend for $850
— You Mad Bro? (@HowieK15) April 3, 2026
I would never put myself in that situation, much less spend money for it.
— J.D. (@jdsun65) April 3, 2026
I'm sure those in attendance ate it up with a spoon
— Mgally (@Moe_Gallagher) April 2, 2026
I couldn't get through the first minute. And his reference to Trump loving Pam Bondi aged like milk in a sauna
— You Mad Bro? (@HowieK15) April 3, 2026
Born to get off my lawn...
— Blind Mouse (@RidnTme) April 3, 2026
I can do that for free with a lawnchair and the old guy who lives across the street. 😄
— Fedup American 🇺🇲💪 (@Fedup026) April 2, 2026
What a jackass. I say that as a former lifelong fan
— Slapjackal (@Slapjackal) April 3, 2026
This dude has been a joke for so long. Can't believe people still buy his pro Ticketmaster gauging garbage.
— Everyday I Decay (@EverydayIDecay) April 2, 2026
Anyone who pays to see Springsteen probably enjoys being lectured.
— Nona Wolf (@nona_wolf78053) April 2, 2026
The fans knew what they were getting into. But how about him pulling up a chair to deliver his rant. We guess that made it "folksy" or something. "Gather round, an old person's talking!"
***
