Bruce Springsteen really doesn’t like President Donald Trump.
If that wasn’t clear before Tuesday night’s concert at PPG Paints Arena, it certainly was after.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer started off his Pittsburgh show with an earnest (but scripted) speech, calling these dangerous times for America, lambasting the current administration and calling for a celebration and defense of American ideals, democracy and the Constitution. For the record, he added a few more of those lengthy diatribes throughout the night.
But Springsteen and his E Street Band did their best to channel the “righteous power” of arts, music and rock ‘n’ roll over almost three hours on the group’s Land of Hope & Dreams American tour.
“Tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division and peace over war,” said Springsteen, with the band launching into a spirited cover of the Temptations’ “War” on that last word.
The often-misunderstood “Born in the U.S.A.” — it’s certainly not a flag-waving, patriotic song — came next, featuring a brief guitar solo tradeoff between Springsteen and special guest Tom Morello. The innovative guitarist, most widely known from his tenure in the politically charged metal band Rage Against the Machine, joined the band for a dozen of the 27 songs on the night.
After the Celtic-tinged protest song “Death to My Hometown,” which had a heavy accordion influence, Morello shared lead vocals with Springsteen on a cover of the Clash’s “Clampdown.” After Springsteen’s line of “in these days of evil presidentes,” Morello tweaked the next lyric to make it “but lately one or two will hopefully pay their due.”
For the most part, the songs chosen for this set seemed curated specifically to stress the ideas and ideals behind the tour’s launch, whether it was resilience (“No Surrender” and “The Promised Land”) or optimism (“Land of Hope and Dreams.”) The band played plenty of working-class anthems like “Youngstown” and “Badlands,” as well as Sept. 11 reflections like “The Rising” and “Long Walk Home,” which brought the choir up front.
But there were also more overtly political songs like the melancholic “American Skin (41 Shots),” which decried the 1999 fatal police shooting of Amadou Diallo in New York City, erupting after a pair of solos from Morello. The 2026 anti-ICE song “Streets of Minneapolis,” which had the crowd chanting “ICE out now!” several times, ended somberly with photos of Renee Good and Alexi Pretti on the big screens.
Railing against what he considers to be injustice isn’t exactly a new stance for Springsteen: He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 by President Barack Obama and, in 2021, the Woody Guthrie Prize, which is for artists who speak out for social justice. That stretched to his band, too, with guitarist Steven Van Zandt using a yellow and blue guitar on “No Surrender” in solidarity with Ukraine.
Most of the crowd seemed to be on the same wavelength of the political spectrum, cheering on lines like “the criminal clown has stolen the throne” on the spare “House of a Thousand Guitars,” which Springsteen played solo.
Beyond the politics, Springsteen’s gospel of rock ‘n’ roll spotlighted the many musicians of the E Street Band – Van Zandt, guitarist Nils Lofgren, drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent and keyboardist Roy Bittan plus violinist/vocalist Soozie Tyrell, accordionist/organist Charles Giordano and saxophonist Jake Clemons, in addition to the four-member E Street Horns and the five-member E Street Choir. All told, when Morello joined on songs, there were 19 performers on stage.
Most of them got a chance to shine, for example:
• Van Zandt’s solo on “Murder Incorporated,” plus singing face-to-face with Springsteen on songs like “Two Hearts” and “No Surrender”
• Lofgren’s spinning guitar solos, especially on “Youngstown” and “Because the Night”
Nils Lofgren solos on “Because the Night” during Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s show on May 19, 2026, in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/zcB1Vgih4z
— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) May 20, 2026
• Weinberg blasting away at his drum set near the end of “Born in the U.S.A.” and “Badlands”
• Clemons’ numerous sax solos like “Hungry Heart” or “The Promised Land”
• Tyrell’s violin featured prominently in “American Land”
• The horns and choir groups each were spotlighted on “My City of Ruins”
Morello’s biggest moment of the night came on “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” a song that Rage Against the Machine had covered in the late 1990s. While sharing lead vocals with Springsteen again, Morello also shredded through a goosebump-inducing solo lasting more than two minutes, with shades of Rage’s “Guerrilla Radio” in there. Morello, incidentally, appeared to be wearing a No. 21 shirt from the Roberto Clemente Museum.
The five-song encore began with “American Land” — “This is an immigrant song,” Springsteen said — with all of the performers except Weinberg lined across the stage for the Irish jig/rocker that would be right at home on a Dropkick Murphys album.
A rousing version of “Born to Run” led to “Dancing in the Dark,” his biggest commercial hit, which featured a brief glimpse of the shimmy recognizable from his 1984 music video. Band introductions segued into “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” which saw him walk into the crowd, shaking hands and pausing for a selfie while singing.
With the undertones of a gospel organ sound, Springsteen gave one more speech before borrowing a page from another of America’s great songwriters, closing with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.”
“Thank you for supporting our band through all these years. It’s always a pleasure coming to Pittsburgh. Through good good times, through hard times. Hell, the E Street Band was built for hard times, and we will make it through these.”
What was missing: With a career spanning more than 50 years, it’s impossible to play all of the favorites, even with a nearly three-hour show. Notable omissions included “Thunder Road,” “The River,” “Atlantic City,” “Glory Days” and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).” There was also no appearance from Pittsburgh rock icon Joe Grushecky, a longtime friend of Springsteen who had played on “The Promised Land” in January at the Light of Day WinterFest in New Jersey.
A look at the merch for Bruce Springsteen’s show at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/gjwAXeKOSP
— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) May 19, 2026
The merch: A good selection of T-shirts, for Springsteen and his band as well as Morello, were available for $50 each. There was also a Land of Hope & Dreams flag with “No Kings” in place of stars for $90 in addition to posters, totes, buttons and patches.
Last show here: In 2024, Springsteen played a pair of concerts at PPG Paints Arena, with shows on Aug. 15 and 18. Further back in time, he also played on May 19 in Pittsburgh in 2009.
What’s next: While Springsteen’s next concert is May 22 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, he’s also making an appearance for the penultimate show of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Wednesday.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band setlist
War (The Temptations cover)
Born in the U.S.A.
Death to My Hometown
Clampdown (The Clash cover)
No Surrender
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Streets of Minneapolis
The Promised Land
Two Hearts
Hungry Heart
Youngstown
Murder Incorporated
American Skin (41 Shots)
Long Walk Home
House of a Thousand Guitars
My City of Ruins
Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
Encore
American Land
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Chimes of Freedom (Bob Dylan cover)