Bruce Springsteen performed ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ at the No Kings flagship rally in St. Paul before 200,000, honoring ICE victims and calling for resistance.
Bruce Springsteen walked onto the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, March 28, and turned a protest rally into one of the most charged political moments of his five-decade career. Before an estimated crowd of more than 200,000 people at the flagship No Kings rally in St. Paul, he performed “Streets of Minneapolis“ for only the third time since its January release, honoring the two Americans killed by ICE agents this winter and addressing a nation he believes is in its most critical hour since 1968.
Introduced by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who called President Trump a “wannabe dictator,” Springsteen wasted no time establishing the stakes. “This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis,” he told the crowd. “Well, they picked the wrong city.” He praised the state’s resistance to Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement campaign, calling the solidarity of Minnesotans “an inspiration to the entire country.” He then named the dead directly. “Renee Good, mother of three, brutally murdered. Alex Pretti, VA nurse, executed by ICE, shot in the back and left to die in the street without even the decency of our lawless government investigating their deaths. Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten.”
The Song That Became a Movement
Springsteen wrote and recorded “Streets of Minneapolis” in the immediate days following the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, releasing it alongside a fiery music video that intercut footage from ICE’s clashes with demonstrators with Springsteen performing in his home studio. He debuted the track live on January 30 at a benefit concert at Minneapolis’ First Avenue, organized by Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, in what Springsteen later told the Minnesota Star Tribune was one of the most meaningful shows of his life. “There are certain moments where you’re in the right place at the right time and something deeply meaningful occurs that is bigger than the band,” he said. Saturday’s St. Paul appearance marked only the third time he has sung the song live, the second being a Democracy Now! 30th anniversary event in New York earlier in the week.
The No Kings rally, the third wave of the nationwide protest movement against the Trump administration, drew an estimated 8 million participants across more than 3,300 registered events in all 50 states, according to organizers, making it the largest single-day demonstration in U.S. history. The bill at the Minnesota State Capitol also featured Joan Baez, Jane Fonda, Senator Bernie Sanders, and singer Maggie Rogers, with actor Robert De Niro appearing on video. “The No Kings movement is of great import right now,” Springsteen told the Star Tribune earlier this week. “When you have the opportunity to sing something where the timing is essential and if you have something powerful to sing, it elevates the moment.”
The Boss Comes to Minneapolis, Then Washington
Saturday’s rally drew participants from well beyond the expected urban strongholds, with the No Kings organizers noting registration surges in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Louisiana. The St. Paul event, designated the national flagship, also featured Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Senator Bernie Sanders, Jane Fonda, and Tom Morello, a lineup that underscored the breadth of the resistance now arrayed against the current administration.
For Springsteen, it was also a warm-up act of a different kind. On Tuesday, he and the E Street Band launch the Land of Hope and Dreams Tour at Minneapolis’ Target Center, with Morello joining for every date. The tour closes May 27 in Washington, D.C. He has been explicit about what to expect. “The tour is going to be political and very topical about what’s going on in the country,” he told the Star Tribune. “Minneapolis and St. Paul, that was the place I wanted to begin it, and I wanted to end it in Washington.” He announced the tour with a declaration that has taken on new weight after Saturday: “The cavalry is coming.”
