On November 6, 2016, the world was a different place. At the Jam the Vote concert at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, the mood was optimistic for an election that seemed far too long in coming.
Towards the end of an exuberant evening, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler took to the stage to front the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (who served as the house band for the event) in an earnest, affectionate reading of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”
Despite Win’s introductory exhortation, we did indeed find ourselves living in the America that Butler never wanted to see. But that just makes Bruce’s song and Butler’s performance a more poignant reminder of the American promise, still unfulfilled.
