In this perilous, consequential term of Trump 2.0, I’m noting a very stark difference between musicians who speak up about what is actually happening in our country, versus others who stumble their way through struggle performances and word salads of “it’s time to come together” and “I took the gig to help out a cause.” Bruce Springsteen, first son of New Jersey, is of course in the first camp. Even while on tour abroad, Springsteen is calling out the un-American, undemocratic crimes of this president to European audiences. And we know it’s bugging the sh-t out of the mango mobster, based on the unhinged social media posts he incoherently spat out in response. Well, Pearl Jam is also out on tour now, in America, and frontman Eddie Vedder took a moment out of their Sunday show in Pittsburgh to salute Springsteen for standing up for true American values:
“I just want to point out that [Springsteen] brought up the issues,” Vedder said to the crowd. “He brought up that residents are being removed off America’s streets and deported without the due process of law. That’s happening. He brought up that we are abandoning our longtime allies around the globe and signing on with dictators. That is also happening.”
“And here driving through all the colleges, the University of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon and the incredible area you’ve got and thinking that they are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideologies as Bruce said,” he continued. “Now look, I appreciate you listening and bring it up because the response to all that and him using the microphone, the response had nothing to do with the issues. They didn’t talk about one of those issues. Didn’t have a conversation about one of those issues. Didn’t debate any of those issues. All that we heard were personal attacks and personal attacks that nobody else should even try to use their microphone or use their voice in public or they will be shut down.”
“Now that is not allowed in this country that we call America.”
Vedder’s speech, which was posted on X (formerly Twitter), received a loud applause from the crowd with a few boos.
“It’s so beneath us,” he added. “Bruce has always been as pro-American with his values of freedom and liberty and his justice has always remained intact, and I’m saying this now just to be sure that this freedom to speak will still exist in another year or two when we come back to this microphone.”
Vedder then went on to perform Springsteen’s “My City in Ruins.”
Go Eddie! Not only did he speak plainly and eloquently, but he gets major props for pulling it all off without even dropping Trump’s name (something I clearly failed to do). Vedder actually did the same thing a year ago when he called Kansas City Chiefs’ Harrison Butker a “f–king p-ssy” from the concert stage, also without mentioning the misogynistic prick by name. There’s something so classy about it, like Vedder can unambiguously make his point without having to sully his own mouth by uttering their names. Anyway, Springsteen has lit a spark and it’s catching, as Vedder wasn’t the only rock star to sing the Boss’s praises for his patriotism. This week Neil Young wrote a letter of thanks to Springsteen on his website, where he said “Your great songs of America ring true as you sing them to Europe and the world!” Hear, hear! I’ll be making my annual pilgrimage to Asbury Park this summer, and will feel an extra sense of American pride to be where Springsteen was born… in the USA. (Yes I know he was technically born in Long Branch, but I had to go there!)
Wow! Eddie Vedder completely shreds Donald Trump in Pittsburgh and defends Bruce Springsteen’s recent comments. This is a must watch!!! pic.twitter.com/Px8THSMBWU
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) May 20, 2025
Photos credit: Santi Ramales/Backgrid, Getty