MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 31 — Rock icon Bruce Springsteen took to the stage in Minneapolis yesterday to perform his new song written in tribute to two protesters shot dead by federal agents in the city.

The veteran performer penned and recorded Streets of Minneapolis in 24 hours, in what he said was a response to “state terror” in the city, where President Donald Trump’s administration has sent thousands of heavily armed agents as part of an immigration clampdown.

Those agents killed two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, within a few weeks of each other, sparking widespread anger across the country, and accusations that the masked agents are out of control.

The Boss said after he had written the anthem, he sent it to former Rage Against The Machine frontman Tom Morello to see what he thought.

“Tom is an excitable man,” Springsteen told the audience to laughter as he took to the stage yesterday.

“I said ‘Tom, what do you think? It’s kind of soapboxey.’

“And he says: ‘Bruce, nuance is wonderful, but sometimes you have to kick them in the teeth.’”

Springsteen’s song calls the immigration agents “King Trump’s private army” wearing “occupiers’ boots” and with “guns belted to their coats.”

“There were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood, and two dead left to die on snow-filled streets: Alex Pretti and Renee Good,” he sings in the opening verse.

“This is for the people of Minneapolis, the people of Minnesota and the people of our good country, the United States of America,” he told the audience.

The song’s title echoes the 1994 classic Streets of Philadelphia, Springsteen’s haunting ballad about people living with AIDS.

For decades, Springsteen has been revered by rock fans in the United States and beyond for his man-of-the-people guitar music and socially conscious, working-class anthems like Born in the USA, The River, and Rosalita.

During the 2024 election campaign that led to Trump’s second presidency, Springsteen threw his support behind Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and said Trump was running to be an “American tyrant.”

At the time he said of Trump: “He does not understand this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American.”

Trump has in recent days sought to tamp down the furore over the violence in Minneapolis and has shuffled the leadership of immigration officials overseeing the operation, putting a less confrontational figure in charge. — AFP