Springsteen doubles down on political criticism with a digital EP that includes anti-Trump comments

There’s no retreat or surrender from Bruce Springsteen — or from President Donald Trump, for that matter.

The rock star released a digital EP on Wednesday with four songs recorded live in Manchester, England last week, along with two of his addresses to the audience that attacked Trump’s “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”

The Boss pointedly opened his concert in Manchester Tuesday night, his third in the English city, with the song “No Surrender.”

A satirical video posted on Trump’s social media account on Wednesday showed the Republican president taking a swing on the golf course and his “ball” hitting Springsteen in the back as he stumbles to get onstage.

Springsteen, long a Trump opponent, began the latest skirmish in the culture war in England last week, where he opened a European tour. His same-state neighbor Trump — they both have homes in New Jersey — responded by calling the Boss a “dried-out prune of a rocker.”

Both men have had other rock stars leap to their defense. Trump supporter Kid Rock appeared twice on Fox News Channel last week. He said his fellow Michigander, Bob Seger, “smokes” Springsteen.

“Bruce Springsteen is another one of the liberals who has mountains of money who so desperately wants to keep his good standing in the eyes of Hollywood and the elite,” Kid Rock said. Springsteen “plays the working-class guy” but his politics are “ass-backward,” he said.

On Fox’s influential show “The Five,” former White House press secretary Dana Perino said she always found Springsteen overrated, and Greg Gutfeld denounced him with an off-color slur.

Neil Young has backed Springsteen, and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder praised him during a concert in Pittsburgh over the weekend. Springsteen brought up issues, and in response “all that we heard were personal attacks and threats that nobody else should even try to use their microphones or use their voices in public or they will be shut down,” Vedder said.

“The name-calling is so beneath us,” said Vedder, before Pearl Jam performed Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

For Springsteen, “No Surrender” replaced “Land of Hope and Dreams” atop his concert set list. The EP released digitally on Wednesday also contained a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.”

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.