Towards the end of Pearl Jam’s final show of their “Dark Matter” tour in Pittsburgh, PA this past Sunday (May 18th), frontman Eddie Vedder took a moment during the encore portion of the show to address recent comments made by both Bruce Springsteen and President Donald Trump.
Before playing Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Vedder said:
“I was thinking about a microphone and a guitar and a relationship with an audience and trust and reciprocal respect that is built over the years and the decades, and that we all get to be better for. And then the people that we know because of the music. The family and the friends. I just want to say how important it is and how we’ve never lost sight or forgotten for one second the privilege that it is to stand on a stage in front of an audience.
“When I hear Bruce Springsteen brings up issues and makes his thoughts be known, and uses his microphone to speak for those who don’t have a voice sometimes — certainly not an amplified one — I just want to point out that he brought up issues. He brought up that residents are being removed off America’s streets and being deported without due process of law. That’s happening. He brought up that we’re abandoning our longtime allies around the globe and signing on with dictators. That is also happening. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideologies, as Bruce said.
“Now, look. I appreciate you listening and I bring it up because the response [by Donald Trump] 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 one of those issues. All that we’ve heard were personal attacks and threats 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, am I right or am I wrong? Part of free speech is open discussion. Part of democracy is healthy public discourse. The name-calling is so beneath us. Bruce has always been as pro-American with his values of freedom and liberty and his justice has always remained intact. This freedom to speak will still exist in another year or two from now when we come back to this microphone. And what better place to have a positive response than the forkin’ f*ckin’ people of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.”
Last week, during his two shows in Manchester, England, Springsteen criticized Trump and his administration, saying in part: “In my home, the America I love… is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”
“There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous sh*t going on out there,” he added. “In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.”
Just days later, the President went on a social media tirade in response to The Boss’ comments.
“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He continued: “This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
