"I wrote this song as an ode to American possibility, Springsteen said from onstage on the last night of the 2026 Light of Day Winterfest at Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. It was about a both beautiful but flawed country, that we are, and the country that we could be. Right now, we are living through incredibly critical times."
"The United States, the ideals and the values for which it stood for the past 250 years, is being tested as it's never been in modern times, he said. Springsteen argued recent events in Minneapolis, where ICE agents are scooping up immigrants, U.S. citizens and legal U.S. residents alike and holding them in detention or shipping them off without allowing them to communicate, has brought American democracy to a dark place."
"Those values and those ideals have never been as endangered as they are right now, he told the audience gathered to raise funds for Parkinson's and other neurological-related diseases. So as we gather tonight in this beautiful display of love and care and thoughtfulness and community, if you believe in democracy and liberty and believe the truth still matters, you must speak out and it's worth fighting for, he continued."
Bruce Springsteen performed a surprise set at the 2026 Light of Day Winterfest in Red Bank, New Jersey. He criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for operations in Minneapolis that detained immigrants, citizens and legal residents without communication. He called those actions a threat to American ideals and urged that ICE leave Minneapolis. He dedicated "Promised Land" to Renee Good, a slain mother of three, framing the song as an ode to American possibility and the country's potential. He urged listeners to defend democracy, liberty, the rule of law, and to oppose heavily armed federal forces using Gestapo-like tactics.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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