Bruce Springsteen Opens Toronto Show With a Rallying Cry ‘for My Country,’ Then Lets the Music Do the Talking: Concert Review
variety.comCaryn Rose On Wednesday night, Bruce Springsteen took the stage at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena over an hour late with profuse apologies — there was plane trouble, apparently.
He then declared, “This is a fighting prayer for my country,” and roared into an emphatic version of his 2007 song, “Long Walk Home,” following immediately with an enormous, majestic rendition of “Land of Hope and Dreams.” It wasn’t the first time that Springsteen had introduced “Long Walk Home” — originally written about the George W.
Bush years of disorientation and disillusionment — with a comment about it being a prayer for the United States. And it’s certainly not the first time that “Land of Hope and Dreams” has been invoked by Springsteen in moments of importance — he did so last week at rallies for Vice-President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in Atlanta and Philadelphia.
These are big songs, full of meaning and symbolism, songs you close a set with. But on the night after the 2024 presidential election, you start here.
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