Bruce Springsteen has released a live video of his cover of Prince‘s ‘Purple Rain’ featuring Tom Morello from a recent show in Minneapolis.
The show took place earlier this month and was the opening night of The Boss’ ‘Land Of Hope & Dreams’ tour, which saw him reprise the ‘Purple Rain’ cover – with a solo from Morello – for the first time live in ten years.
It was one of a slew of covers in the setlist, with a rendition of The Temptations’ hit song ‘War’ played at the start of the show. There were also covers of ‘Because The Night’ by the Patti Smith Group, and ‘Chimes Of Freedom’ by Bob Dylan, which closed the 27-song setlist.
Check it out the cover of ‘Purple Rain’ below:
At the gig at Target Center, Springsteen started his show by telling the crowd (via NewsBytes): “We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before.”
“We’ve got our young men and women’s lives at risk in an unconstitutional and illegal war,” he added, also criticising the targeting of immigrants by ICE agents and hitting out at Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Our Justice Department has completely abdicated its independence, and our Attorney General Pam Bondi takes her marching orders straight from a corrupt White House,” he said, accusing Bondi of prosecuting the president’s “perceived enemies” and covering up his alleged misdeeds.
“You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can’t handle the truth,” he continued, accusing Trump and his family of getting richer at the expense of working Americans in a “corruption unmatched in American history.”
“So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people,” he concluded. “So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.”
The Boss’ ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ tour will see him joined by Tom Morello at every date, with the tour set to run up until a stop in Washington DC on May 27. See the full list of dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
Before it even began, the tour already got backlash from the White House, with Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung saying: “When this loser Springsteen comes back home to his own City of Ruins in his head, he’ll realize his Glory Days are behind him and his fans have left him Out in the Street, putting him in a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out because he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain”.
Springsteen then reaffirmed the tour is “going to be political” and has confirmed that he is prepared for the “blowback”.
The music icon has previously called for the POTUS to be impeached and “consigned to the trash heap of history”. He has also described Trump as “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous”, and endorsed the No Kings movement against him last October.