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.
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” and “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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Sweet, Sweet Jenny
This week’s tour stops — in Cleveland and, three nights earlier, Pittsburgh — are perhaps where “Youngstown,” from 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, resonates most deeply. The city sits just over 60 miles east of Rocket Arena, and, as expected, the song’s opening reference to “northeast Ohio” drew a massive roar from a largely boomer crowd that still feels the sting of the Rust Belt decline it chronicles. Fists shot into the air with the chorus, while Nils Lofgren punctuated the performance with a fiery, dynamic guitar solo that ranked among the night’s best musical moments — though he nearly matched it later with another blazing turn during “Because the Night.”
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Never Surrender
After Little Steven Van Zandt revealed to the U.K.’s Daily Mail that Bruce Springsteen and the tour had faced increased death threats and heightened security, it would have been understandable if Springsteen skipped his customary trip into the crowd during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” But that’s not how he operates. Security personnel were certainly stationed at strategic points, yet he was off the stage moments after the song began, making his way down a ramp that cut across the arena floor, shaking hands and getting genuinely up close and personal with fans. Faith, as he likes to sing, was indeed rewarded.
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The Morello Factor
The Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave et al shredder has been E Street-adjacent since Rage covered “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and Morello later joined Bruce Springsteen onstage in Anaheim in 2008. On Friday, as throughout the tour, he appeared on roughly a dozen songs, dressed in a black T-shirt, red kerchief, baseball cap and shades while dueting with Springsteen on “…Tom Joad” and unleashing his signature six-string sonic detonations at key moments throughout the set.
His standout performance, however, came during “American Skin (41 Shots),” where he summoned a kind of “Purple Rain”-level transcendence in two searing solos that elevated the song to another plane. Its refrain — “you can get killed just for living in your American skin” — landed with even greater force amid Springsteen’s references throughout the night to ICE victims Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
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The Clash Klatsch
The “new” edition to the setlist, now 15 shows in, proved apt and on-target with its mentions of a ransacked kingdom and “these days of evil presidencies.” Morello, brandishing his “arm the homeless” guitar, took some lead vocals on this one as well, while the might of the full E Street Band ensemble took the tune beyond what the Clash likely had in mind when it recorded “Clampdown” for 1979’s London Calling.
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Sparks Fly
For longtime Springsteen and E Street Band fans, there’s a moment during “Badlands” that can’t help but stop your heart. After Springsteen’s guitar break, saxophonist Jake Clemons — who’s been in his late uncle Clarence “Big Man” Clemons’ spot since 2012 — followed with a solo of his own, after which the two clasped hands and held them aloft, invoking a bond between E Street past and present.
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Naming the Names
Springsteen offered no quarter in his handful of prepared remarks throughout the night. Though identical to the other shows, they were nevertheless up to date, making note before “Land of Hope and Dreams” that “the Supreme Court gutted the voting rights act and historically set back our hard-fought-for Civil Rights movement, a movement for which people marched, fought and gave their lives. This is happening now” — and something that’s happened since the tour began.
His specificity included foreign, domestic and economic policies and bemoaned that American has become a “reckless, unpredictable, predatory, untrustworthy, rogue nation.” He struck an encouraging, tone, however, in declaring that “honesty, honor, humility, character, truth, compassion, humanity, kindness, morality, strength, believe in justice and decently — don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore. They do. They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we want to be and the kind of country we want to leave to our children.”
Springsteen tasked the crowd to “find a way to take aggressive, peaceful action to defend our country’s ideas,” invoking the late Civil Rights leader and U.S. Representative John Lewis’ admonition to “go out and get in good trouble — say something, do something, sing something!”
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Singing Out
Having 15 folks who sing, including the five-member E Street Choir, where were some moments of soul stirring a cappella, especially during “Streets of Minneapolis” (“Let ’em hear you in Washington,” Springsteen announced just before) and “Long Walk Home.” The chorale also allowed “American Skin” and “My City of Ruins,” to soar to spiritual heights beyond previous renditions.
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Special Souvenirs
Springsteen’s harmonica giveaways have become a thing at his shows, and he did not disappoint on Friday. After taking a rose from a young girl during “The Promised Land,” he returned the short ramp that jutted from the center of the stage and found two recipients at the front, specifically targeting them even if it meant gesturing another fan aside.
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Ballot Boosting
During his usual “Hungry Heart” performance to fans seated behind the stage — which lit up a variety of supportive signs and flags some carried into the show — one woman sporting a blue “Springsteen For President 2026” T-shirt ran into one of the aisles. Springsteen spotted her, to everyone’s delight, but he stopped short of declaring any sort of candidacy during the evening.
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Famous Faces in the Crowd
Spotted in the Cleveland crowd on Friday were Pam Springsteen, shooting photos from the audience, as well as former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie — a longtime fan — along with his daughter.
Adding to the mix, retired NBA stars Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston were also spotted, both taking in the show from the general admission floor and engaging enthusiastically with the crowd around them.