Preparing for the final song of his Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour on Friday (May 22) night in Cleveland, Bruce Springsteen reminded the Rocket Arena crowd that “the E Street Band was built for hard times.”
Those times have inarguably become harder during the seven-and-a-half weeks since the 20-date trek began in Minneapolis, and it was evident on Friday that it’s only made the group, 20 strong on this outing, harder and Springsteen even more focused and resolute in his mission.
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Cleveland marked the 17th date of the tour — and the start of its final week — which is likely to culminate in an even more pointed and poignant reckoning on May 27 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The tour wraps May 30 in Philadelphia after that date was postponed because of an NBA scheduling conflict.
The setlist remains unchanged since Springsteen and company added the Clash’s “Clampdown” to the set during the third show in Inglewood, California. Springsteen didn’t even vary the show to reference the previous night’s end of Stephen Colbert’s late-night TV reign (he sang “Streets of Minneapolis” on the penultimate episode) or the Cleveland Cavaliers’ spot in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. The Boss did, however, reference the city’s Agora, site of revered live radio broadcasts during the ’70s, and emotionally thanked the city “for a lifetime” of devotion.
Primarily, the New Jersey rocker continued to present as ferocious and committed, pulling no punches as he slammed “reckless, racist, incompetent, treasonous” U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies and “super fools administration.” His words — delivered by Springsteen as part pulpit-pumping preacher and part podium-pounding representative of the people, with just enough Rock Star thrown in — were strong. But it was the 27 songs that really put weight behind the message, as the E Street troupe during its two-hours and 50 minutes on stage.
The repertoire is carefully considered and curated, from the opening protest of the Temptations/Edwin Starr Vietnam era hit “War” through the hymn-like closing of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.” In between, Springsteen offered a treatise and sermon about not just what’s wrong in America today but also what can be right. He’s certainly taking his crowds to the “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” but he wants to bring them back as well.
“We needed to come to Cleveland… to feel your strength and your hope and your faith,” Springsteen explained at the end of the night. “And we needed to bring some strength and some hope and some faith.”
That, in turn, made the optimism of “The Promised Land,” “Long Walk Home,” “City of Ruins,” “Land of Hope and Dreams” (with its snippet of the Impressions’ “People Get Ready” and “This American Land” essential and uplifting moments, as crucial to the conversation as “Death to My Hometown” “Murder Incorporated.” There is indeed “trouble in the heartland,” but the belief in the love, faith and hope that Springsteen sings about in “Badlands” remains central, aspirational and achievable.
It was also, lest we forget, one helluva rock ’n’ roll show, with the expanded E Street Band operating at peak power — including the return of Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello as a featured guest. And Bruce Springsteen, at 76, may have adopted a well-honed economy of movement, but he remained a commanding presence — and, yes, still a force of nature onstage.
Nearly every song provided a highlight of one kind or another, but we’ll go with these as our 10 best moments from an exciting night near the banks of Lake Erie.
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