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Springsteen and Stipe sing out for Kerry


Bruce Springsteen hunched over his guitar with furious intensity, the stage lights flashing around him. As he belted out America's national anthem the sell-out crowd, who had come to hear Springsteen kick off America's biggest political concert tour in a generation, began to sing along.
For a moment it was the 1960s again and Springsteen was Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. He then moved straight into another song. It was his famous hit 'Born in the USA', a paean to the lost generation who fought in Vietnam.
But the war that loomed large over the Philadelphia concert hall was Iraq. It has sparked an almost unprecedented politicisation of America's entertainment industry. From documentaries such as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 to plays like Tim Robbins's Embedded, the entertainment industry has taken sides. Now it is music's turn.
Springsteen's show in Philadelphia on Friday night kicked off the Vote for Change concert tour that will see some of the biggest rock stars in the world touring America's swing states. Their message is simple and direct: vote for John Kerry. Kick out George W Bush.
Springsteen, in his first ever direct foray into trying to influence an election, took the stage hot on the heels of REM. 'Did you hear the presidential debate last night?' Springsteen asked the audience. 'We are on a roll,' he said and then he began another number.
At the same time as Springsteen and REM were playing in Philadelphia, country band the Dixie Chicks were on stage in Pittsburgh on the other side of the state. Meanwhile, the Dave Matthews Band, Bonnie Raitt, John Mellencamp, Pearl Jam and a host of others were playing elsewhere. All in all, six Pennsylvania cities were hit on the same night.
After Pennsylvania, the Vote For Change tour will head for Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin in a 10-day blitz of 34 shows in 28 cities. It will end in a televised concert in Washington DC. Along the way it will raise millions of dollars for two organisations, MoveOn and America Coming Together, which are the Democrats' main weapons in the election, registering voters and campaigning on the ground.
Organisers hope the concerts will energise Democrat supporters in the swing states, or even convert Republicans to Kerry's cause. Certainly much of the Philadelphia concert seemed more like a political rally than a normal music concert. Young volunteers worked the queues of fans, registering them to vote and signing them up for the campaign. The message was working on many fans, though often it was preaching to the converted. Brian Dworkin was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a puzzled-looking Bush on the front and the slogan: 'A village in Texas is missing its idiot'.
But not all of the crowd were what the tour's organisers were looking for. Overwhelmingly middle-aged, full of lifelong fans of Springsteen and REM, quite a few of them were Republicans with no intention of switching sides. The videoed speeches were largely ignored and a brave few even wore pro-Bush t-shirts. Lawyer Randy Maniloff said: 'This just looks like the usual Bruce crowd. I mean, I am here and I am voting for Bush.'
He had no time for Kerry but also no regrets his $75 ticket would be going towards the anti Bush campaign. 'With luck they will be so inefficient that my $75 will end up more like two dollars and will only buy a Kerry bumper sticker,' he laughed.
anthem - hymn
belt out - wyśpiewywać na cały głos
blitz - bombardowanie, nalot; duży wysiłek
bumper sticker - naklejka na zderzak
convert - zmieniać; nawracać
end up - skończyć (gdzieś), skończyć (jako)
foray - wyjazd, najazd
head for - zmierzać do, wyjeżdżać do
(to be) hot on one’s heels- deptać komuś po piętach
hunch over- schylić się, zgarbić się
inefficient- nieskuteczny, nieefektywny
loom large- wywoływać niepokój
overwhelmingly - przytłaczająco; w zdecydowanej większości
preach - odprawiać kazanie
puzzled- zakłopotany
rally - wiec
spark - wszczynać, inicjować
switch - zmieniać, przechodzić (tu: na drugą stronę)
unprecedented- bezprecedensowy

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