Bruce Springsteen didn’t wait for the song to make his point.
Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Wednesday night, Springsteen opened his performance with a blunt show of support for Colbert—and an even blunter assessment of why the show is ending.
“I am here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we got a president who can’t take a joke,” Springsteen said, strumming his guitar.
“And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want,” he continued. “Stephen, these are small-minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about. This is for you.”
With that, Springsteen launched into “Streets of Minneapolis,” his anti-ICE ballad written in response to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during federal immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The song was already a fittingly pointed choice for Colbert’s next-to-last broadcast. Springsteen made the connection explicit.
Like Colbert, Springsteen has drawn Donald Trump’s fire for making opposition to the administration part of the work itself. Over the course of his Late Show run, Colbert has made his show not just a comedy program, but a nightly act of civic resistance: part monologue, part pressure valve, part televised rebuttal.
Springsteen’s appearance gave that posture a closing anthem—and, before the first verse, a benediction with teeth.
Wednesday’s appearance marked Springsteen’s fourth visit to The Late Show following sit-downs with Colbert in 2016 and 2020, and a 2021 appearance in which he took “The Colbert Questionert” and performed “The River.”
It also makes him something of a late-night closer. Springsteen was the surprise musical guest on the final episode of Late Night with David Letterman in 1993, where he performed “Glory Days,” and he helped send off Jon Stewart’s original Daily Show run in 2015 with “Land of Hope and Dreams” and “Born to Run.”
Springsteen is the last named guest scheduled for The Late Show. The series returns Thursday night for its final episode. Little is known about what’s planned; CBS is simply describing the night as “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Series Finale.”
Watch Springsteen’s full performance at the top of this post.
