"(Expletive) the President"

Springsteen captivates Glendale crowd with acoustic show

Larry Rodgers
The Arizona Republic
May. 1, 2005 12:00 AM

When Bruce Springsteen announced that he would perform for more than 5,000 people at Glendale Arena in the third concert of his solo acoustic tour, it raised the question: Could even a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer keep the attention of such a large crowd for a show running more than two hours?

Springsteen quelled any doubts Saturday night with a brisk, masterful performance that kept the well-mannered audience mesmerized with the best storytelling songs in rock music today.

After asking for "as much quiet as I can get" at the start of the concert, Springsteen let his catalog of American tales, including a generous sampling from his strong new "Devils & Dust" album, do most of the talking in the arena for the next few hours.

...Springsteen chose to be fairly economical with his comments between songs, although he did call for "a humane immigration policy" before playing the new "Matamoros Banks," lambaste the "dinosaur" mentality of the Bush administration (before "Part Man, Part Monkey") and talk about drifting away from the Catholic church (as a prelude to the new "Jesus Was An Only Son" ), among other ramblings. He ad-libbed a "That's right" after one audience member yelled "(Expletive) the president" at one point.
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Very nice.

Some idiot yells "(Expletive) the president" and Springsteen responds with "That's right."

I support Springsteen's right to free speech and I am not bothered by it when he expresses his political views. During the Rising Tour, when I experienced his mumblings about the Patriot Act, I just ignored it and waited for him to get into the next song.

However, endorsing "(Expletive) the president" was out of line. That is not the same as Springsteen stating his own political views in a civil manner. To give approval from the stage to such a crass statement is inappropriate.

Hey, Bruce! I could ignore you when you babbled about our civil rights being taken away. Couldn't you have ingored the imbecile that disrupted your concert?

Not cool, Bruce. Not cool.