"Let 'em hear ya in the fuckin' White House!": Mr. Springsteen goes to Washington, and will be back!
- Shawn Poole
- 53 minutes ago
- 3 min read
May 28, 2026
Last night, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band brought their Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour to its ultimate "speak-truth-to-power" venue: the Washington Nationals' baseball park in Washington, D.C. It also marked the tour's only outdoor show, and while Mother Nature peppered the audience with light rain throughout the evening, fortunately she spared us of any of her lightning-bolts. What took place onstage was more than thunderous enough for us, thank you very much.
I last experienced this tour in person with the first show in Minneapolis on March 31, and it certainly wasn't surprising that there wasn't much different about last night's still-on-point-and-highly-relevant setlist (other than the inspired addition of Bruce and Tom Morello leading a great cover of The Clash's "Clampdown," especially appropriate with its "In these days of evil presidentes..." line.) What was surprising to me, however, and in a very pleasant way indeed, was how much better Bruce and the band sounded to me on many of the songs throughout the evening, and this was after they already sounded very good on opening night! Can't wait to catch this tour one more time with the rescheduled final show in Philly this Saturday.
The significance of the Washington, D.C. tour-stop was not lost on Bruce at all, of course. During the "ICE out now!" audience-participation segment of "Streets of Minneapolis," he instructed the crowd to "Let 'em hear ya in the fuckin' White House!" Towards the end of the show, he also informed the audience that with the conclusion of this very special, historic, and inspiring tour this week, he still wasn't quite done with his musical activism (as if anyone sane would think he was:)
"Tom Morello and I will be back again here in D.C. [well, less than an hour's drive away from D.C. proper, in Columbia, MD,] on October 3rd for another night of music and resistance. The first-ever Power To People Festival will be announced to the world tomorrow, but you're hearing about it first here tonight! Tom will be there; Dave Matthews, The Foo Fighters... my friends The Dropkick Murphys will be there. I'll be back, guesting and playing on a few songs with Tom and his band. We encourage you to come out and make a goddamned ruckus along with us!" (Tickets become available with a public onsale this Saturday, May 30 and an artist pre-sale - for which you must sign up - happening tomorrow, Friday May 29. Click here or on the image below for more information.)
After the Power To The People Festival announcement, Bruce also informed the audience about The Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour's Washington, D.C. partner/beneficiary organization: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU.) It was a genuine pleasure and honor to meet some of the ACLU volunteers working their tables in the ballpark, and to inform them of how recent additional sales of our special Frank Caruso "Spirit of '76" shirts have raised additional money for their important work. Equally pleasurable was meeting up with Letters To You readers/supporters Mickey and Tim Julius, who - like me - wore their "Spirit of '76" shirts to the show. Check out the photos below:
A luta continua - in the Washington, D.C. area and elsewhere - through October and beyond. Meet you out in the streets...
