If you are a masochist and wanted to see Bruce Springsteen perform live this year, you would have paid anywhere between $87 and $3,000 for one ticket. In return for your hard-earned cash, the over-the-hill, woke son of New Jersey would have sung some of your favorite Springsteen tunes, and the E Street Band would have ably backed up its aging leader and, when called upon, covered for him when he got winded on stage, lost his mojo, or even tripped and fell on stage.
Stand for something or fall for everything. https://t.co/mGBOHQdtKb
— Phantom Shadow (@Fuknutz) May 16, 2025
Actually, he’s doing pretty well for an elderly rocker. He’s 77 years old. That said, if you go to one of his concerts, you’ll get something more for your ticket money: a heavy dose of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) in the form of preachy, woke, uninformed, cringeworthy lecturing.
Bruce Springsteen goes on anti-Trump tirade mid-concert. https://t.co/6LKM0MuZXg
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 15, 2025
Springsteen is an old man now, and so, while other men his age are yelling at kids to get off their lawns, he’s ranting, oftentimes incoherently, against a president who has made his life demonstrably better, more secure, and more prosperous.
Springsteen is not alone. The TDS rants to paying music fans in arenas across the country are becoming so epidemic that they’re starting to seem almost compulsory. When you buy your ticket to see rising country star Kacey Musgraves, the cost of your ticket will cover her fees, her band’s fees, the crew, the venue rental, taxes, and a good amount of Democrat politics. She may even bring James Talarico out, because she knows that’s who you really paid good money to see.
I’ll take @ellalangleymsic over Kacey Musgraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico. https://t.co/sD9yzSF955
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) October 12, 2026
But Musgraves is about more than Democrat politics. If, as a country music fan, you were feeling patriotic and took your best gal out to see Musgraves on Columbus Day, she had a special message for you.
An entire generation of spoiled brats who’ve never built anything, stand on the crumbling empire they don’t deserve, built by great and courageous men who are now judged through the moral lens of the softest dorks living in the easiest times. Oy vey. https://t.co/CfH7pPZHII
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) October 13, 2026
You heard her right. Wearing a cowboy hat, the Texas native wanted to make it absolutely clear that she hates this country, hates its history, and hates the people who brought us to where we are today so that people like her can stand on a stage and make millions.
By the way, tickets for her shows are much more affordable than tickets to a Springsteen concert. She charges $50–$200 per ticket, unless you get the VIP package. That’s a good bit more.
The trend where music artists use their live shows to promote political causes and candidates, or to attack other political causes and candidates, is pervasive, so much so that Metallica has found itself under attack from leftists simply because lead singer James Hetfield paused during a recent show to remind the audience that they are just entertainers and not political pundits.
Metallica frontman James Hetfield recently called out artists who turn their concerts into political rallies, saying: “Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their BULLSH*T.” Do you agree with James? Should musicians keep politics out of concerts, or should artists use the stage to speak about what they believe in? Let’s debate. What do you think? #Metallica #JamesHetfield #HeavyMetal #Metal #ThisDayInMetal
— THIS DAY IN METAL (@ThisDayInMETAL) October 12, 2026
Thousands of leftists on the X platform made posts like this one in reaction to Metallica’s sane approach to its fans and its performances.
Absolutely disappointing stance from Metallica. Saying nothing is one thing but totally turning and pointing the finger to the people who dare to speak up about war crimes, is disgusting. Such a shame because I am a huge fan of the band 😔
— Lina Greek (@Linagreek) October 14, 2026
It seems now that it is so expected that you will spread leftist dogma when you step onto an arena stage, that, if you don’t, you should be cancelled.
Other artists are all too happy to give the left what it wants. This is Harry Styles using his platform to attack ICE and help a fan make a statement over their sexuality.
Harry Styles holds a Bisexual Pride flag on stage to announce a fans ‘coming out’ “Could I have a, sort of, gay drum roll if possible? During the same concert, the British singer spoke out against ICE agents shooting a migrant who rammed his car into ICE vehicles. https://t.co/JSXSPbB9cc
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) October 13, 2026
There was a time when country music was a patriot’s “safe space” from all this wokeness, but thanks to the leftists who control the entertainment industry and the fact that the new generation of music artists couldn’t find Israel’s West Bank on a map, you now have other young stars like Zach Bryan jumping on the “Free Palestine” bandwagon.
Zach Bryan takes the stage at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium wearing a “Free Palestine” shirt, putting the same message at the center of another high-profile concert moment. The country star wore the shirt during his Friday night stop in Foxborough, just weeks after Kraft confirmed he did not want Macklemore performing at Gillette Stadium following the rapper’s pro-Palestinian remarks during Ed Sheeran’s tour. Macklemore had shouted “Free Palestine” at MetLife Stadium before he was later dropped from Sheeran’s tour. Sheeran said the decision came from the promoter and venues, not him. https://t.co/823kBnQEuj
— VELVAVOID (@VELVAVOID1) October 14, 2026
Why entertain your fans if you can satisfy your own narcissistic urge to weigh in on world events you know nothing about?
Of course, the pattern is nothing new. We’re conditioned to expect woke lectures every time an Academy Award winner collects his or her golden statue. We know the entertainment content we stream or listen to will be jam-packed with leftist messaging. But this current trend of airhead musical artists stopping their shows to make it political just doesn’t feel organic to me. It almost feels like a paid commercial spot in the middle of a show.
Maybe it’s because if you’ve ever met a professional musician, you know that if you want them to do something for you, it’s gonna cost you. Music union wages or higher will apply. So, forgive me if my imagination wanders and I start to speculate that not all of these on-stage political rants are spontaneous. It’s almost like campaigns, NGOs, and political organizations are feeding some of this.
I'm sure they mean what they're saying, but I'm just not 100% sure that these mid-show rants are entirely their own ideas. I hope I’m wrong, but what sticks out for me is the sudden flurry of very specific types of performers going viral for very similar reasons with very similar messaging.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I did a lot of reading on psyops and how pop culture can be and is used to engineer public opinion by the global intelligence community. Ever since, I probably see “ops” where there aren’t any.
And so, in this case, we may just be seeing a trend where empty-headed performers, who are bored with simply being loved and adored and enriched by their fans, want something more. They may want to feel like they have more to offer. Or, maybe in some of these cases, political campaign operatives are behind the trend.
Either way, the end result is the same. Thousands and thousands of equally empty-headed music fans are following the lead of those dingbats on stage, and society is not the better for it.
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