• Bruce Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello announced the “Power to the People” protest festival on Wednesday while performing together at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., as part of Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour
• The one-day event is set for October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland — one month before the midterm elections — and will be headlined by Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard, and Joan Baez
• Throughout the Land of Hope and Dreams tour, Springsteen has opened each show with a declaration: “We are here to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in these dangerous times”
• The festival is organized by Morello and is framed around “freedom, justice, equality and rock ‘n’ roll”

Bruce Springsteen isn’t waiting until after the tour to make his point. The Boss announced a major protest festival Wednesday night from the stage at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., joined by Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who has been touring with him on the Land of Hope and Dreams run.

The Power to the People festival is set for October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland — putting it squarely one month before the midterm elections. The headliner list runs from Springsteen himself to Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Brittany Howard, and Joan Baez, per PBS NewsHour.

The announcement came near the end of Springsteen’s short American tour, which has been explicitly political from the first night. At every stop, Springsteen has told the crowd: “We are here to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in these dangerous times.” He has also used the tour to spotlight activist organizations, welcoming groups into each venue to do outreach and solicit support, per Billboard.

Festival Details

Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Howard County, Maryland, is one of the mid-Atlantic’s signature outdoor venues — a practical choice for a large-scale event of this kind. The festival’s stated themes of “freedom, justice, equality and rock ‘n’ roll” track closely with the rhetoric Springsteen has been deploying throughout the tour, per CBS News Baltimore. No ticket details have been announced yet.

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• Tom Morello has announced the inaugural Power to the People Festival, set for Saturday, October 3, 2026 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland — one month before the midterm elections
• The lineup includes Bruce Springsteen (billed as a “special guest”), Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Brittany Howard, Serj Tankian, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black, Taylor Momsen, The Linda Lindas, Matt Cameron, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, grandson, and The Neighborhood Kids; Shepard Fairey provides artwork and a DJ set
• Morello announced the festival from the stage at Nationals Park on May 27 during the closing night of Bruce Springsteen’s “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour, at which Morello has been performing
• The event is described as “a non-partisan celebration of peace, justice, solidarity, music, and community action”; Morello told The Washington Post: “The mantra of the show is a very clear one. It is a show about peace, love, justice and music”
• Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 30 at 10 AM ET; a presale begins Friday, May 29

Tom Morello picked his moment. On the closing night of Bruce Springsteen’s “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour at Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park on May 27, Morello stepped up to the microphone and announced Power to the People Festival — a one-day all-star event near the nation’s capital, timed to arrive exactly one month before the midterm elections.

The festival takes place Saturday, October 3 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Per Stereogum, the lineup is headlined by Bruce Springsteen (in a “special guest” billing), Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes. Rounding out the bill: Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, Dropkick Murphys, Jack Black (performing alongside Roman Morello, Revel Ian, Yoyoka Soma, and Hugo Weiss), Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless, The Linda Lindas, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, grandson, and The Neighborhood Kids. Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the iconic Obama “Hope” poster, will contribute artwork and perform a DJ set.

Morello, who co-founded Rage Against the Machine and has spent decades as one of rock’s most outspoken activists, told The Washington Post the vision is straightforward. “The mantra of the show is a very clear one,” he said. “It is a show about peace, love, justice and music.” In a press statement, he put it more succinctly: “The Power to the People festival is about freedom, justice, equality and rock and roll.”

The Context Around the Show

The announcement lands at a charged moment. Morello has been visibly active in recent weeks — he was photographed singing at an anti-ICE protest in New York in May — and the Springsteen tour he joined has been described by multiple outlets as politically charged, with the Boss directing pointed commentary toward the current administration throughout the run.

The festival’s website describes it as “a non-partisan celebration,” but the timing and the guest list tell a more specific story. The October 3 date falls exactly one month before the midterm elections. The lineup reads like a greatest-hits of artists who have been outspoken during the current political moment — Springsteen, Killer Mike, Joan Baez, the Dropkick Murphys. Morello framed the event in broader terms: “It’s a concert about the power everyday human beings have when they come together — through music, art, community and action — to shape our country and our planet.”

Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 30 at 10 AM ET. A presale opens Friday, May 29.

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• Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen both took shots at Trump during Colbert’s penultimate Late Show episode on Wednesday
• De Niro quipped about 2.5 million unreleased Epstein files; Springsteen called out Paramount’s Ellison family by name
• The White House responded Thursday, calling Colbert a “pathetic trainwreck with no talent”
• More than a dozen celebrities appeared on the episode, including Billy Crystal, Martha Stewart, and Ben Stiller
• Colbert’s final episode airs Thursday, May 21 on CBS

Stephen Colbert’s second-to-last Late Show was always going to be a party — but Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen made sure it had a little bite too.

Wednesday night’s episode brought out more than a dozen celebrity guests as part of a flipped version of Colbert’s signature “Colbert Questionert” segment, where the host usually grills his famous guests with a series of quirky questions. This time, Colbert took the guest sofa while his friends took turns asking him the questions. Billy Crystal, Mark Hamill, Martha Stewart, Josh Brolin, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Daniels, Tiffany Haddish, Amy Sedaris, Ben Stiller, Aubrey Plaza, Weird Al Yankovic, James Taylor, John Dickerson, and Colbert’s wife Evie McGee Colbert all showed up. It was the kind of send-off that reminded you just how many people this show has touched over the years.

Then came De Niro.

The 82-year-old Oscar winner sat down and asked Colbert, “What number were you thinking of?” — a standard Questionert prompt. Colbert gave a characteristically long-winded answer, explaining that only two guests had ever correctly guessed the number three: Meryl Streep and Ethan Hawke. De Niro deadpanned, “OK” — then delivered the punchline.

“Because I thought it would have been two million point five, or two and a half million. That’s the number of Epstein files Trump still hasn’t released.”

Colbert threw his head back laughing. The audience erupted. The clip was everywhere by morning.

Springsteen Closes the Show — and Calls Out the Ellisons

If De Niro drew blood, Bruce Springsteen went for the jugular. The Boss closed the show with a performance of “Streets of Minneapolis,” his 2026 protest song — but not before saying his piece to the audience first.

“I am here tonight in support for Stephen because you’re the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we’ve got a president who can’t take a joke,” the 76-year-old told the crowd.

He didn’t stop there. “And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want,” Springsteen said, directly calling out Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father Larry by name. “Stephen, these are small-minded people… they got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about.”

CBS has maintained that canceling The Late Show — announced back in July 2025 — was purely a financial decision, citing the show’s reported $40 million annual loss. But Springsteen’s comments reflect what a lot of people in the industry have been saying quietly: that the politics were never far from the equation.

Trump, for his part, made no secret of his delight when the cancellation was announced. “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” he wrote on Truth Social at the time. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”

The White House Responds

The administration didn’t let Wednesday night pass without comment. A White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Thursday: “Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck with no talent and terrible ratings, which is exactly why CBS canceled his show and is booting him off the airwaves.”

It’s not the first time Trump has gone after Springsteen specifically. Back in April, he posted that the “Thunder Road” singer was “Bad, and very boring,” adding that he looks like a “dried up prune” with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — and urging his supporters to boycott Springsteen’s concerts, which he called “overpriced” and said “suck.”

Online reactions split predictably. “This is an absolute mic drop right there for the Late Show, and god, it’s hard to believe that all of this will end tomorrow,” one person wrote in the YouTube comments on Springsteen’s performance. “Mad respect to the Boss, a much better man than the one sitting in the oval office,” added another. On the other side, X users called Springsteen a “washed up musician” and argued that Colbert lost his show because “nobody was watching, revenues were tanking, and he was simply un-funny.”

For Colbert, though, the noise may not be the point. In an interview with People published Tuesday, the 62-year-old host reflected on what he’s always hoped the show meant to viewers. “I hope they laughed. I hope they felt better at the end of the day,” he said. “We’re the last thing you see. A lot of things happen in a day, but we bat last, and so we get the last take that people hear before they go to bed, and I hope it made their day better.”

His final episode airs Thursday night on CBS. He’s promised the sendoff will be “something simple.”

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• Bruce Springsteen performed at Stephen Colbert’s second-to-last Late Show on May 20, calling out Trump and Paramount’s Ellison family
• The Boss said Colbert lost his show because Trump “can’t take a joke” and the Ellisons needed to “kiss his ass” to get what they want
• Springsteen performed his protest song “Streets of Minneapolis,” written after two people were killed during an ICE operation in Minnesota
• Jimmy Kimmel also took shots at Paramount leadership and urged his viewers to watch Colbert’s finale — then “never watch CBS again”
• The Late Show’s series finale aired May 21, ending Colbert’s nearly 11-year run on CBS

Bruce Springsteen didn’t hold back. Showing up for the penultimate episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night, The Boss used his moment in the spotlight to say exactly what a lot of people have been thinking — and he said it with names attached.

“I am here in support tonight for Stephen, because you’re the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we got a president who can’t take a joke,” Springsteen told the audience before launching into his performance. “And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Anyway, Stephen, these are small-minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about. This is for you.”

From there, Springsteen — alone onstage with an acoustic guitar and harmonica — performed “Streets of Minneapolis,” the protest song he released this past January following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good during an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota. As he played, projections of the words “RESISTANCE,” “TRUTH,” and “HOPE” appeared behind him. It was the kind of moment that felt less like a television appearance and more like a statement.

Why the Cancellation Has Never Quite Added Up

CBS has maintained that the decision to cancel The Late Show was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” — not related to the show’s content or performance. But the timing has raised eyebrows since the moment it was announced last summer. The cancellation came just as Paramount Global was finalizing its merger with Skydance Media, a deal that required Trump administration approval. David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, founded Skydance and now serves as CEO of Paramount Skydance. Both Ellisons have been vocal Trump supporters.

The move also landed not long after Colbert went on air and called Paramount’s $16 million settlement of Trump’s defamation lawsuit against CBS — over a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris — a “big fat bribe.” Days later, the cancellation was announced.

Colbert himself has been careful heading into his final week, choosing his words deliberately. He told The New York Times that he understood why people found it suspicious: “The network did it to themselves by bending the knee to the Trump administration over a $20 billion, settled for $16 million, completely frivolous lawsuit.” And he told The Hollywood Reporter that two things can be true at once — “It can be that the broadcast model is collapsing, and, while we’re at it, as long as we’re collapsing here, what if we shove this one out a window first? I mean, this lamb’s got a very cuttable throat.”

Trump, for his part, has been openly gleeful about the whole thing. “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” he posted on Truth Social last July. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” When asked about Colbert’s final show on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he’d “have a message on a later date.”

Late Night Rallies Around Colbert

Springsteen wasn’t the only one making his feelings known. Over on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel opened his Wednesday show with a tribute to his friend and fellow host — and didn’t spare Paramount’s leadership either.

“I think you know how I feel about the fact that they’re being pushed out,” Kimmel said. “I hope the people who did the pushing feel ashamed of themselves tonight, although I know they probably won’t.” He praised Colbert’s team for their years of work and said he had no doubt they’d continue doing great things “in other venues.”

Then Kimmel ended with something that landed: “I will be watching tomorrow night. I hope that those of you who watch our show will also tune in to CBS for the last time. Don’t ever watch it again, but watch tomorrow night to wish Stephen and our friends at The Late Show a fond farewell.”

David Letterman has also weighed in previously, calling CBS brass “lying weasels” over the financial explanation for the cancellation.

One Last Night Before the Finale

Wednesday’s episode was packed. Before Springsteen closed things out, much of the night was devoted to Colbert sitting in the guest chair for an extended version of his own “Colbert Questionert” segment — the rapid-fire questionnaire he’s put to hundreds of guests over the years. This time, the guests came to him: Billy Crystal, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Josh Brolin, Martha Stewart, Mark Hamill, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Daniels, Tiffany Haddish, Amy Sedaris, Ben Stiller, Aubrey Plaza, James Taylor, Robert De Niro, John Dickerson, and finally Colbert’s wife, Evie McGee Colbert.

The last question put to him: describe the rest of your life in five words. His answer was simple and warm. “My family, my friends, fun.”

The episode also followed Tuesday night’s Late Show, which featured a performance from David Byrne — another heavy-hitter for a show going out swinging.

Springsteen’s appearance fits squarely into the spirit of his current “NO KINGS” Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour, which has centered on resistance to the current administration and recently wrapped a three-night run in New York City.

The series finale of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert aired May 21 on CBS — ending nearly 11 years of late night television. No guests for the final episode were announced in advance. Whatever happened, Springsteen gave it a proper send-off the night before.

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• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ends its 11-season run on CBS on Thursday, May 21, 2026
• Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, David Byrne, and Bruce Springsteen headline the final week
• The series finale guest lineup has not yet been announced — CBS is saving surprises
• Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel will air reruns on May 21 to clear the way for Colbert’s finale
• The show was canceled last year amid Paramount’s merger with Skydance in what CBS called “purely a financial decision”

Stephen Colbert is going out with a bang. With just one week left before The Late Show signs off for good on May 21, CBS has revealed the star-studded guest lineup that will close out 11 seasons of one of late night’s most celebrated runs — and it’s exactly the kind of send-off the moment deserves.

Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, David Byrne, and Bruce Springsteen are all confirmed for the final week. The series finale itself? Still under wraps — and CBS seems very intentional about keeping it that way.

Here’s how the week breaks down: Monday, May 18 kicks things off with “The Worst of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — which the network is at pains to clarify is “not a clip show.” Tuesday, May 19 brings Jon Stewart back into Colbert’s orbit, alongside a sit-down with director Steven Spielberg (whose new film Disclosure Day hits theaters in June) and a special musical performance featuring David Byrne and Colbert performing together. Wednesday, May 20 flips the script entirely: Colbert will answer his own famous “Colbert Questionert” for the first time, with unnamed special guests doing the asking, and Bruce Springsteen closing out the night with a performance. Thursday, May 21 is the finale — and beyond confirming the date, CBS isn’t saying a word about who’ll be there.

A Farewell Tour Months in the Making

The final week is the culmination of a farewell run that’s felt more like a celebration than a goodbye. In recent weeks, Oprah Winfrey and former President Barack Obama both stopped by. Tom Hanks told Colbert he isn’t sure “how the entertainment industrial complex is going to survive without you.” Julia Louis-Dreyfus snapped back into character as Selina Meyer — with jokes written by former Veep writers — and delivered a roast-style farewell that was pure chaos in the best way.

David Letterman, who handed Colbert the keys to the Ed Sullivan Theater back in 2015, returned to gleefully hurl set furniture off the roof alongside his successor. And on May 11, Colbert reunited with Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver — the group known collectively as Strike Force Five — for an extended on-air conversation. When Colbert asked near the end if there was anything else to cover, Kimmel didn’t miss a beat: “The outrage that your show is being thrown off the air?” He called it a “tragedy.” Fallon called it a “bummer because I wanted to do this longer with you.”

Both Fallon and Kimmel have since announced their own shows will go dark on May 21, airing reruns so that NBC and ABC clear the field entirely for Colbert’s finale.

Why the Show Is Ending

CBS canceled The Late Show last July, with Paramount describing the decision as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” But the timing raised eyebrows. The cancellation came amid Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount — a merger that closed roughly a month after the show’s end was confirmed — and after Colbert had publicly called CBS’s parent company settling a lawsuit with Donald Trump a “big fat bribe.”

CBS released a statement at the time calling Colbert “irreplaceable” and announcing it would retire The Late Show franchise entirely. “He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television,” the network said. Taking the 11:35 p.m. slot next season will be Comics Unleashed, hosted by Byron Allen, which currently airs at 12:35 a.m. following After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson.

Colbert himself has been candid about the bittersweet circumstances. In an exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said he “did not expect it to end this way” — but also acknowledged there’s a strange freedom in not being the one who pulled the plug. “If I’d decided to end the show, then I’m the bad guy — hard to make jokes about that,” he said. “Maybe they gave me a gift.”

What Comes Next for Colbert

As for what’s next, Colbert has said he’s not entirely sure — though it was announced in March that he’s writing a new Lord of the Rings film. And his life outside the Ed Sullivan Theater isn’t slowing down either. On the Strike Force Five podcast, he put the week in perspective: “My son graduates college on the 18th, my show ends on the 21st, my brother gets married on the 23rd. So I’m kind of sandwiched between things that are a little more important. A little perspective.”

He’s also been open about the hard reality for his staff. “No one’s got a job after that night,” he said. “I think the next day, everyone’s fired. We all have to be out by the next Friday. Like, physically absent from the theater.”

This is Colbert’s second time closing out a long-running show. When The Colbert Report ended in 2014, he orchestrated one of the most memorable late-night finales ever — a packed room of surprise celebrity guests, a rendition of “We’ll Meet Again,” and a final exit on Santa’s sleigh alongside Abraham Lincoln and Alex Trebek. That time, he already knew what was coming next. This time, he’s stepping into the unknown.

The series finale of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs Thursday, May 21 at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, and streams on Paramount+.

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• Video from Bruce Springsteen’s May 15 Barclays Center show shows him walking past a hand-extended Chris Christie without acknowledging him.
• Christie, a self-described superfan who claims to have attended 150+ Springsteen concerts, visibly pulled his hand back and looked upward in disappointment.
• The clip went viral quickly, with fans and commentators flooding social media with reactions and jokes.
• The two have a complicated history dating back to a 2012 Hurricane Sandy benefit — and Springsteen’s 2014 Bridgegate parody on Late Night.
• Christie has said their relationship improved after a 2015 airport apology from Springsteen, though their political differences have never fully disappeared.

Bruce Springsteen has been known to work a crowd — but at his Thursday night show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, one particular hand he left unshaken is now all anyone can talk about.

Video captured during the E Street Band’s May 15 performance — first shared on X by journalist Mike Ryan — shows Springsteen, 76, making his way through the crowd, high-fiving fans as he went. Then he turned a corner, and there was former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 63, arm outstretched, ready for his moment. Springsteen walked right past him. Head down, still in it, still performing. Christie’s hand snapped back. He looked up, shrugged it off, and went back to clapping along to the music.

The internet, naturally, lost its mind.

“HAHAHA Bruce Springsteen WAS NOT HAVING IT with Chris Christie,” one user posted. Another offered a more charitable read: “It looks like Bruce thought he was just a guy showing him which direction to go.” A second clip from the same show also circulated, showing Christie in full superfan mode — fist-pumping, air-guitaring, dancing like he was 19 years old at the Stone Pony. That footage only added fuel to the fire.

Christie’s Complicated Springsteen Story

To understand why this moment landed so hard, you have to understand just how deep Christie’s Springsteen devotion runs. This isn’t a casual fan. Christie has said he’s attended more than 150 of Springsteen’s concerts over the years. His X bio literally reads: “Husband, proud father, former Gov and U.S. Attorney, Springsteen fan.” He has described Springsteen’s music as a defining part of his life since his teenage years, and on The Fifth Column podcast in March, he described their personal relationship as “really good,” saying, “We text, we talk.”

He even recalled a previous concert where Springsteen called him late at night just to confirm he’d spotted Christie in the pit — catching his wife completely off guard.

So yeah. The snub — if that’s what it was — stings a little differently when you’re that guy.

Their history together goes back to November 2012, when former President Barack Obama played matchmaker of sorts. During a phone call about Hurricane Sandy relief, Obama told Christie that Springsteen wanted to speak with him. The two had a brief conversation — and later that same month, they met face-to-face backstage at a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert at Madison Square Garden.

Christie was openly emotional about it. “We hugged,” he told reporters. “He told me it’s official: we’re friends. I told the president today, actually, that the hug was great and when we got home, there was a lot of weeping because of the hug. And the president asked why. I said, ‘Well, to be honest, I was the one doing the weeping.'”

That warmth didn’t last long.

Bridgegate, Parody Songs and a Rocky Middle Chapter

In 2013, Christie’s administration became embroiled in the “Bridgegate” scandal — staff members were accused of deliberately engineering traffic jams near Fort Lee, New Jersey, as political payback against a mayor who hadn’t supported Christie. Christie was never criminally charged, but the controversy shadowed his 2016 presidential run.

Springsteen didn’t stay quiet. In 2014, he joined Jimmy Fallon on Late Night to perform a parody of “Born to Run” skewering the whole mess. “Baby this Bridgegate was just payback / It’s a bitch slap to the state Democrats,” Fallon, 51, and Springsteen sang together. “We got to get out while we can / We’re stuck in Governor Chris Christie’s Fort Lee-New Jersey traffic jam!”

Christie later admitted he was furious. “Then I was p******,” he said on the podcast.

But according to Christie, things eventually thawed. He’s described a chance airport encounter in 2015 where Springsteen pulled him aside and apologized for “piling on.” Christie said he accepted it, and the two agreed to move past the politics. Christie also noted that Springsteen had initially respected his work as U.S. attorney going after corruption in Asbury Park — it was Christie’s Republican governorship starting in 2010 that cooled things between them.

Where Both Men Stand Now

The Barclays moment is getting extra attention because of where both men are politically right now. Springsteen has been one of Donald Trump’s most vocal celebrity critics — in March, he called the Trump White House a “corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration.” Trump fired back on Truth Social in April, calling Springsteen a “dried-out prune” and urging supporters to boycott his music.

Christie, for his part, has spent the last several years as one of Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics — a dramatic reversal from the man who endorsed Trump in 2016 and chaired his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in 2017. He’s told Bill Maher that Republicans “speak very differently” about Trump behind closed doors, and by 2024 was openly saying that “Make America Great Again has always offended me, because it implies that America wasn’t great.”

So in theory, these two should be on the same page politically. And yet.

TMZ noted that even with Christie’s evolution on Trump, Springsteen may simply not vibe with the former governor regardless. Whether Thursday’s moment was an intentional brush-off or just Springsteen locked into the performance, nobody outside of The Boss himself knows for sure. Representatives for both men had not commented as of Friday.

The show itself was part of Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams stadium tour, and the setlist — which included “Born to Run,” “Dancing in the Dark” and “Streets of Philadelphia” — was everything fans came for.

Christie, for his part, danced through all of it.

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• Bruce Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams Tour stopped at Madison Square Garden for a three-hour set that doubled as a full-throated rebuke of the Trump administration
• Tom Morello joined the E Street Band onstage, with standout moments on “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and a cover of the Clash’s “Clampdown”
• Springsteen opened every show with a spoken prayer before launching into Edwin Starr’s “War” — setting the political tone from the jump
• New protest anthem “Streets of Minneapolis” honors Renée Good and Alex Pretti, killed by ICE agents, and has crowds chanting “ICE out now” at arenas nationwide
• At 76, Springsteen is delivering what many are calling one of the most urgent and alive shows of his career

Bruce Springsteen walked into a spotlight at Madison Square Garden Monday night and didn’t let up for three hours. The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour — subtitled “No Kings” — has been building momentum across the country, and by the time it hit New York City, it had become something that transcends the usual category of “classic rock show.” This was a revival. A reckoning. And one of the most commanding performances of Springsteen’s five-decade career.

It started before a single chord was played. Springsteen stepped to the mic as the E Street Band played quietly behind him and delivered what has become his nightly opening prayer: “We begin the night with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for an end to this conflict and for their safe return.” Then, the pivot: “Our democracy, our constitution, our rule of law, are being challenged right now as never before by a reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous president and his ship of fools administration.” He let the last word hang — and then bellowed it. “War.” And the band launched right into Edwin Starr’s Vietnam-era protest anthem, the crowd erupting before the first verse landed.

From there, he went straight into “Born in the U.S.A.” — a song Springsteen famously avoided playing in America for years after Ronald Reagan co-opted it in the ’80s. Its meaning, he clearly felt, needed no clarification in 2026. Then “Death to My Hometown.” Then a cover of the Clash’s “Clampdown,” with guest guitarist Tom Morello stepping up to shout the song’s central lyric — “Let fury have the hour” — before Springsteen joined in harmony: “Anger can be power. Do you know that you can use it?”

There was no easing in. No warm-up lap. Just three hours of barely relenting energy from a band whose core members — Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent, Nils Lofgren, Roy Bittan — are all in their seventies and playing like they have something to prove.

A Setlist Built Like an Argument

What’s remarkable about this tour is how deliberately Springsteen has sequenced his catalog into something that feels less like a greatest-hits celebration and more like a sustained piece of political and emotional storytelling. “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “Streets of Minneapolis,” and “The Promised Land” sat together in one stretch. “Murder Incorporated” — with a surprise guitar-solo barrage from Steve Van Zandt that had the Garden on its feet — led directly into “American Skin (41 Shots),” his 2001 composition about the police killing of Amadou Diallo, which in turn gave way to the weary hope of “Long Walk Home.”

“American Skin” was a particular highlight, with Morello delivering some of the most lyrical, stunt-free soloing of his career — beginning with a trilling exchange with saxophonist Jake Clemons, who has grown visibly more confident in the role his late uncle Clarence made iconic. The current E Street Band, it’s worth saying, is genuinely multiracial, with nearly as many Black performers onstage as white ones — a fact that feels quietly significant in the context of everything being said from that stage.

“Streets of Minneapolis” — the tour’s sole new song, written after ICE agents shot and killed Renée Good and Alex Pretti — has become an instant anthem. Boomer-heavy arena crowds are shouting “ICE out now” at venues across the country. It’s a protest song that actually works as a protest song, which is rarer than it sounds.

Morello’s presence throughout the night was a reminder of how elastic the E Street Band has become. His once-jaw-dropping whammy-bar theatrics on “The Ghost of Tom Joad” have settled into something that just feels like part of the fabric now — a counterpart to Nils Lofgren’s equally soaring solo on “Youngstown,” or his spinning-top physicality during “Because the Night.” The band isn’t nostalgia. It’s a living thing.

The Speeches the Democratic Party Should Be Taking Notes On

Between songs, Springsteen delivered the kind of clear-eyed, emotionally direct political address that has been conspicuously absent from actual American political leadership. He didn’t hedge. He didn’t triangulate. He reminded the crowd of DOGE’s dismantling of USAID and the deaths overseas that followed. “It’s not on the front pages anymore,” he said, “but it’s happening now. People are dying.” He talked about the Supreme Court’s assault on the Voting Rights Act. He talked about immigrants held in for-profit detention centers. He talked about what he called “an incompetent and illegal war” in the Middle East. Each item on the list was punctuated with the same phrase: “This is happening now.” Simple, yes. But in the context of those songs, each repetition landed like a fist.

“We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory, rogue nation,” he told the crowd. “Honesty, honor, humility, truth, compassion, humanity, thoughtfulness, morality, true strength and decency — don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore — they do…. So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.”

The speeches have been nearly identical at every stop on the tour, which makes them feel less like improvised passion and more like a carefully considered sermon — one Springsteen has decided the country needs to hear, night after night, in every city.

The message landed differently for different people in the room. One observer noted two ultra-wealthy moguls sitting nearby — one from media, one from sports — who appeared entirely unmoved. As Springsteen made his final plea for humanity near the end of the set, one was eating. The other had closed his eyes. Jon Bon Jovi, who was also in attendance, reportedly leaned over to try to explain what was happening. The rest of the 20,000 people in the building were on their feet.

That image — the thunderous majority and the two checked-out billionaires — felt like its own kind of parable about the divide Springsteen has spent this entire tour trying to address.

What a 76-Year-Old Can Still Do

Purely as a concert, this is extraordinary. No 76-year-old rock icon should be able to sustain three hours at this level — landing one song like a jumbo jet while the next is already counting down for takeoff, as one observer put it. Weinberg’s drumming is ferocious. Lofgren is a spinning top during his solos. Van Zandt commands his corner of the stage with the quiet authority of someone who’s been doing this for fifty years and still means every note. And Springsteen himself dances, shimmies into the crowd, and drives the whole thing forward like a man with no interest in coasting.

The show closed with covers of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” — a bookend to the opening “War” that felt earned rather than obvious. In between those two poles, Springsteen had conjured something that his catalog has always gestured toward: a vision of America that is broken and beautiful and worth fighting for.

He allowed himself one personal, elegiac moment at MSG — reminiscing about playing his first New York City show as a teenager at Cafe Wha. “What I’m saying is, thanks for a lifetime,” he said, and the ovation that followed was notably different from the political thunder of the rest of the night. Quieter. More emotional. Like the crowd understood exactly what he meant.

The show had opened with a light lingering on an empty spot behind a mic stand, before Springsteen stepped into it. In those few seconds before he arrived, the void was impossible to ignore — and impossible not to dread.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y4r7K6WeY2o%3Fsi%3Dtoy4e4U6BozEwmE9

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