Bruce Springsteen opened his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour in Manchester, England, on Wednesday with a forceful denunciation of President Trump, accusing him and his administration of trampling on civil rights and workers, abandoning allies and siding with dictators.
Even for an avowed liberal like Mr. Springsteen, it was a notably piercing broadside at a time when some artists have seemed to avoid directly confronting Mr. Trump as they did in 2017, after he took office the first time. Back then, many prominent performers and celebrities roundly denounced Mr. Trump at shows and rallies and on television.
Appearing in Manchester, Mr. Springsteen, 75, criticized Mr. Trump in separate remarks before his songs “Land of Hope and Dreams,” “House of a Thousand Guitars” and “My City of Ruins.” He later posted a transcript of his comments on his website and a video of them on his YouTube channel.
“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ’n’ roll, in dangerous times,” he said. “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
The crowd responded with cheers, and Mr. Springsteen went on to offer a litany of grievances about the administration, accusing it of “taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers.”
“They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that has led to a more just and plural society,” he said. “They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.”
Still, he said, the Trump administration would not prevail.
“The America I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real and, regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people,” he said. “So we’ll survive this moment.”
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Mr. Springsteen’s disdain for Mr. Trump is not surprising. He cut an ad for Kamala Harris and performed at a rally for her in the battleground state of Georgia during the 2024 presidential campaign.
In the 1980s, he criticized President Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign, and he has supported a long list of Democratic presidential candidates since then, including John F. Kerry, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joseph R. Biden Jr.
When Mr. Biden was elected in 2020, he walked out to Mr. Springsteen’s “We Take Care of Our Own” to deliver his victory speech.
But Mr. Springsteen’s remarks on Wednesday — delivered to an audience abroad — stood out at a time when other superstar artists have seemed to mute their criticism of the president.
At the Academy Awards in March for example, there were relatively few references to politics. The most direct commentary on Mr. Trump and the upheaval in Washington was an oblique reference by the host of the telecast, Conan O’Brien, who made a pointed joke about a character from the movie “Anora” who stood up to a powerful Russian.
There was also a notable lack of political commentary at the Golden Globe Awards in January, as many of the artists who opposed Mr. Trump seemed to be sorting out how to push back against him and his administration. There has also been a drift to the right among some in Hollywood, who have welcomed Mr. Trump’s attacks on progressive ideals.
Neil Vigdor contributed reporting.
Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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