Bruce Springsteen takes the stage tonight — and NJ is still divided

The Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour starts tonight. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band take the stage at Target Center in Minneapolis — the same city that inspired his new protest song — and kick off what is shaping up to be one of the most talked-about and most argued-about tours in his career.

New Jersey has a lot to say about it. Most of it loud.

What happened in Minneapolis before the first note

Before the tour even begins tonight, Bruce has already made his intentions impossible to miss. On Saturday he headlined the No Kings rally in Minneapolis, a political event that drew thousands and put his agenda for this tour in plain sight. This was not a warm-up. This was a statement.

He told the Minnesota Star Tribune he is not worried about losing fans. "The blowback is just part of it," he said. "I'm ready for all that." Based on the reaction on our Facebook page over the past 24 hours, the blowback is real — and so is the support.

SEE ALSO: Bruce has every right to go political -- and I have every right to skip this tour 

What NJ listeners are actually saying

When I posted about this over the weekend, the comments came fast and they came hard. Both directions.

Michael DiPeri put it as cleanly as anyone: "I agree that he has every right to use his platform to put forth his political agenda. And I have every right to disagree with what he stands for and drop him as an artist that I follow. And if you cannot see the logic in that statement, you are the problem." That is pretty much where I land too.

Jill Fasulo is going to the April 16 show and she is not apologizing for it. "Bruce has made this clear from the day he confirmed the tour. He knows a lot of people may not go and that is why he warned them. It is Springsteen's show — he does whatever he wants. That is one of our many freedoms in this country."

Larry Hill drew a line that a lot of people seem to agree with regardless of where they stand politically. "It is one thing to pen lyrics, put them to music and have them have political meaning. It's another thing to come to listen to music and then hear speeches. It's the speeches that are annoying people, not the music."

Stacey Nichols raised the point that keeps coming up every time Bruce talks about fighting for the working class: tickets start at $450. "For the working class and less fortunate," she wrote. "Hypocrite."

Bill Cherubino pushed back on something I said in my original piece — that politics have always been part of who Bruce is. He made a fair historical argument: Bruce was the only artist at the 1979 No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden who refused to put out a political statement, saying simply that he let his music speak for itself. The politics, Cherubino says, came later. It is a point worth sitting with.

Robert Koar summed up what a lot of longtime Jersey fans are feeling heading into tonight: "He used to be a guy from NJ. Now it's all Hollywood."

The NJ, NY and Philly dates — if you're going

If the music is enough for you and you want to go, here are the dates closest to home:

Newark, NJ — April 20, Prudential Center

Belmont Park, NY — May 5, UBS Arena

Philadelphia, PA — May 8, Xfinity Mobile Arena

New York City — May 11, Madison Square Garden

Brooklyn, NY — May 14, Barclays Center

New York City — May 16, Madison Square Garden

Where I still stand

I wrote last week that Bruce has every right to go political and I have every right to skip this tour. That has not changed. The music I grew up with — Born to Run, Darkness, The River, The Rising — that is mine and nobody takes that away. The rain at Giants Stadium during Mary's Place is still one of the great nights of my life.

But I already know how I want to experience this music. And for me, right now, it is not in an arena where half the night might feel more like a rally than a concert.

Tonight in Minneapolis, Bruce is going to do exactly what he said he would do. Good for him. I will be on Spotify.

Proud to be New Jersey.

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