Rock legends Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder both interrupted their live sets this week to unload their thoughts on President Donald Trump’s much-criticized “zero-tolerance” border policy.
At his Springsteen on Broadway show Tuesday, Bruce broke from his usual script to condemn the “inhumane” treatment of thousands of children who have been separated from their families by the strict immigration policies set up by the Trump administration. He used his show to particularly call out “senior people in government” who he believed blasphemed in suggesting that they had a duty to separate families.
“For 146 shows, I have played pretty much the same set every night. Tonight demands something different,” preached Springsteen. He then played his 1995 protest song, “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which over the last 10 years has featured guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, transforming the acoustic masterpiece into an impassioned call to activism.
Eddie Vedder also had a few things to say to Pearl Jam fans at a show in London on Monday night.
During an extended intro to the band’s Riot Act fan favorite “Love Boat Captain,” the frontman told the crowd, “I would like to send this one to the guy who is in the White House back in the United States. I would like him to hear it, but he doesn’t listen to music or read books. Could someone tweet this to him or something? For moms and dads and children being separated at the border. That isn’t the country I remember.” Vedder then encouraged bandmate Mike McCready to get aggressive, and then yelled “fuck you” continuously.
Later in the set, Vedder started to rant again, before performing the topical Vs. songs “Daughter” and “W.M.A.,” touching on mothers being separated from their children and asking the audience to sing with him the lyric, “Police man…border man.”
This story first appeared on Billboard.com.
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