Well, the skies opened up in Washington last night
And the rain poured down at Nationals Park too
But the 40,000 fans didn’t seem to mind at all
They fashioned ponchos out of trash bags and kept singin’ along with Bruce.
No – Bruce Springsteen did not sing “Atlantic City” on the penultimate stop of his 2026 Land of Hope and Dreams tour. He didn’t perform anything from his 1982 masterpiece Nebraska. The somber tone of those songs might seem well-suited to our current times, but Bruce was having none of that.
He was defiant for sure. Angry and afraid. But he was also energized and optimistic. And as always, he was fully prepared to deliver three solid hours of kick-ass rock and roll designed to be heard three miles away in the most powerful House in the world.
As he strolled down the steps to greet the crowd in the pit at the beginning of the show, the 76-year announced that was in the national’s capital to “call on the power of art, music, and rock & roll” to heal a wounded land.
Bruce Springsteen delivers his message and his songs loud and clear in Washington DC
This was supposed to the final stop of a tour that began in Minneapolis. Scheduling issues forced the postponement of a show in Philadelphia earlier this month so Bruce takes the E Street Band and all its component parts back up Interstate 95 for the actual final performance this Saturday. Ending in Washington was obviously an intentional statement, but ending in the home of the Liberty Bell might be even more fitting.
Bruce and the band played four covers. One was “Because the Night,” the song he co-wrote with Patti Smith for her third album back in 1978. The other three give a sense of how this tour is a little bit different from the shows he was doing two years ago,
Back in 2024, the covers Bruce did included the Commodores’ sad and lovely “Nightshift.” He was routinely closing shows with the exuberant “Twist and Shout.” This time, he began with the defiant “War,” a number-one hit for Edwin Starr at the height of the Viet Nam era.
A few songs later, he did a bruising rendition of the epitome of defiance – the Clash’s “Clampdown.” And he closed the night with the classic Dylan call for compassion in troubled times – “Chimes of Freedom.”
But if the overall tone was defiant, there was plenty of hope and plenty of righteous rock and roll to lift the spirits. The audience sang the entire first verse and chorus of “Hungry Heart.” Bruce and sidekick Stevie Van Zandt sang “Two Hearts” as a joyous duet. And there were guitars galore.
Bruce and Stevie can certainly jam, but when the E Streeters are at full strength, DC’s own Nils Lofgren is doing most of the heavy lifting on the six-string. Nils ran wild on “Youngstown” and “Because the Night,” and played some pedal steel on “The Rising.”
And on this tour, Bruce was joined by another defiant guitar player. Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, who was on the front lines this past winter in Minneapolis, joined the band for the full set. He announced his presence by sharing vocals on “Clampdown” early and doing the same on an eerie, zombie-lit “Ghost of Tom Joad” late, complete with his own searing guitar work.
In addition to the covers of “War” and “Clampdown” that came early, Bruce played standard crowd-pleasers “Born to Run” and “No Surrender” in the first part of the night before taking a moment to discuss the events in Minneapolis.
Then he began the song he wrote in honor of Renee Good and Alex Pretti – “Streets of Minneapolis” – mostly solo. The full band soon joined in for a potent statement, ending with images of both Good and Pretti projected on the massive video screens flanking the stage.
Several songs later, he pulled out “American Skin (41 Shots),” a haunting remembrance of the 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo. He did not introduce or explain the song, but its message was clear.
As usual, Bruce offered ample opportunity for his large band to shine throughout the night. This version features a five piece horn section along with a five-piece choir. The E Street’s standard lineup typically features nine regulars. With Morello on board, that made twenty on stage.
In addition to the guitars, long-time violin-fiddler Soozie Tyrell got prominent roles on the Celtic-tinged “Death to My Hometown” and “American Land.” When not called on to play the violin, Tyrell became the fifth guitar player on stage.
The ageless Max Weinberg blasted away on drums during “Born in the USA.” He was often aided by choir member Anthony Almonte as a second drummer.
Charles Giordano played accordion on the Irish tunes and supported the remarkable Roy Bittan on keys as well. The horn section got their turn on “My City of Ruins,” from The Rising.
And of course, Jake Clemons, nephew of the E Street’s legendary sax player Clarence Clemons was wailing throughout, sounding so much like his late uncle that you would swear the Big Man was on stage.
The second-to-last number – “Tenth Avenue Freezeout” – always serves as a tribute to Clemons, and on Wednesday the video screens were alive with old photos of Scooter and the Big Man from back in the day.
Bruce was straightforward through the show. He mostly supplied a nonstop stream of powerhouse songs but at several points he addressed the crowd with overtly political statements – of the sort that some music lovers don’t want to hear. But it was hard to find any dissenters at Nationals Park.
When Bruce asked for volume so that they could hear the chants and the singing at the nearby White House, the crowd grew noticeably louder.
On the whole, as befits the tour's title, the night was both angry and hopeful. And as a bonus, Bruce broke some news for the crowd.
Between the main set and the six-song encore, he told everyone that a newly-created Power to the People festival would be taking place in the DC area on October 3rd. Bruce will be on hand, along with the Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews Band, and Dropkick Murphys. Rage Against the Machine is also on the card – Morello is organizing the event.
On Thursday morning, the news went public with a venue – Merriweather Post Pavillion, just outside Washington in Columbia, MD – and a host of other headliners including Jack Black, Joan Baez, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, Brittany Howard and the Linda Lindas.
The power of music was on full display on Wednesday night, and just like the E Street Band, it’ll be sticking around for a long, long time. After all…
Everything dies, baby that’s a fact
Maybe everything that dies will one day come back
Make you protest signs, we’ll al get together
And meet me this Fall out at Merriweather.
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