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BERLIN — In a country that saw its democracy die in 1933, the more than 170,000 people crowding into three of Germany’s biggest soccer stadiums for Bruce Springsteen’s rock concerts in recent weeks have been especially receptive to his message and dire warnings about a politically perilous moment in the United States, one that has reminded some of Adolf Hitler’s power grab in the ’30s.

At these gigantic open-air concerts in Berlin, Frankfurt and Gelsenkirchen, which have been among the largest concerts to date in Springsteen’s two-month-long, 16-show Land of Hope & Dreams tour across Europe, the 75-year-old rock star from New Jersey has interspersed short but poignant political speeches into his exhausting, sweat-drenched performances to describe the dangers he sees in the United States under the Trump administration.

“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ’n’ roll in dangerous times,” Springsteen says to cheers at the start of each concert. “In my home — the America I love, the America I have written about — the America that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”

Springsteen’s words have had special resonance in Germany, where memories of the Nazi past are never far from the surface and the cataclysmic demise of the Weimar Republic, which led directly to Hitler’s takeover, is studied in great detail in schools and universities. With that Nazi past embedded in their DNA, German fears of President Trump’s tactics probably run higher than anywhere else.

“Germans tend to have angst about a lot of things and they are really afraid of Trump,” said Michael Pilz, a music critic for the Welt newspaper, who agrees that the death of German democracy in 1933 is a contributing factor to the popularity of Springsteen’s anti-Trump concerts this summer. “A lot of Germans think Trump is a fool. It’s not only his politics but the way he is, just so completely over the top. Germans love to see Trump getting hit. And they admire Springsteen for standing up and taking it to him.”

The crowds in Germany have been as large as they are enthusiastic. More than 75,000 filled Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on June 11; 44,500 were in Frankfurt on June 18; and another 51,000 watched his concert in the faded Ruhr River industrial town of Gelsenkirchen on June 27. All told, more than 700,000 tickets have been sold for the 16 shows in Springsteen’s tour (for concerts that last three or more hours), which concludes on July 3 in Milan, Italy.

“The German aversion to Trump has now become more extreme in his second term — Germans just don’t understand how the Americans could elect someone like Trump,” said Jochen Staadt, a political science professor at the Free University in Berlin who is also a drummer in an amateur Berlin rock band. Staadt believes Springsteen’s 1988 concert may well have helped pave the way for the Berlin Wall to fall a little over a year later in 1989. “Germans are drawn to Springsteen as someone who played an important role in our history when Germany was still divided and as someone who may have helped overcome that division with rock music.”

Springsteen has been filling stadiums across Europe in the warm summertime evenings with his high-energy shows that not only entertain the tremendous crowds but also take on Trump’s policies on civil liberties, free speech, immigrants and universities in thoughtfully constructed messages. To ensure nothing is lost in translation, Springsteen’s brief forays into politics of about two to three minutes each are translated for local audiences in German, French, Spanish, Basque and Italian subtitles on the giant video walls onstage.

To ram the message home to more people, Springsteen also released a 30-minute recording from the first stop of the tour in Manchester, England, that contains three songs and three of his speeches onstage.

“I’ve always tried to be a good ambassador for America,” said Springsteen while introducing “My City of Ruins,” a song he wrote after the 9/11 terror attacks that has taken on a new meaning this summer. “I’ve spent my life singing about where we have succeeded and where we’ve come up short in living up to our civic ideals and our dreams. I always just thought that was my job. Things are happening right now in my home that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy and they’re simply too important to ignore.”

Springsteen’s first speech during the tour’s Manchester show on May 17 prompted a sharp rebuke from Trump on his Truth Social platform. “Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock’… and this dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare’. Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

Springsteen did not respond directly. Instead, he repeated his messages at every concert across Europe. He delivered more political commentary in introducing his song “House of a Thousand Guitars” by saying: “The last check on power, after the checks and balances of government have failed, are the people. You and me. It’s the union of people around a common set of values. That’s all that stands between democracy and authoritarianism. So at the end of the day, all we’ve really got is each other.” In the song, Springsteen sings about “the criminal clown has stolen the throne / He steals what he can never own.”

His concerts also included the live debut of “Rainmaker,” about a con man, from his 2020 “Letter to You” album. At the concerts in Europe, Springsteen dedicates the song to “our dear leader,” with a line that goes: “Rainmaker says white’s black and black’s white / Says night’s day and day’s night.”

More than 75,000 filled Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on June 11, 44,500 were in Frankfurt on June 18, and another 51,000 watched his concert in the faded Ruhr River industrial town of Gelsenkirchen on June 27.

(Markus Schreiber / Associated Press)

He also changed one line in the song from “they don’t care or understand what it really takes for the sky to open up the land,” to “they don’t care or understand how easy it is to let freedom slip through your hands.”

Springsteen’s enormous popularity across Europe has long been on a different level than in the United States, and that gap could grow even wider in the future. Springsteen’s close friend and the band’s lead guitarist, Steve Van Zandt, recently observed in an interview with the German issue of Playboy magazine that the E Street Band may have lost half of its audience back home because of the group’s unabashed opposition to Trump. (The band’s concerts in the United States are often held in smaller indoor arenas.)

Bruce Springsteen, left, performs with Steven Van Zandt: at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

(Markus Schreiber / Associated Press)

But in Europe, Springsteen and his band have been reliably filling cavernous stadiums during the long, daylight-filled summertime evenings for decades with improbably enthusiastic crowds that sing along to the lyrics of his songs and spent most of the concerts on their feet dancing and cheering. There are also large numbers of hearty Springsteen fans from scores of countries who use their entire yearly allotment of vacation to follow him from show to show across the continent. This summer, Springsteen’s message has been amplified even more, sending many in the boomer-dominated crowds into states of near-ecstasy and attracting considerable media attention in countries across Europe.

“The message of his music always touched a deep nerve in Europe and especially Germany, but ever since Trump was elected president, Springsteen’s voice has been incredibly important for us,” said Katrin Schlemmer, a 56-year-old IT analyst from Zwickau who saw five Springsteen concerts in June — from Berlin to Prague to Frankfurt and two in San Sebastián, Spain. All told, Schlemmer has seen 60 Springsteen concerts in 11 countries around the world since her first in East Berlin in 1988 — a record-breaking, history-changing concert with more than 300,000 spectators that some historians believe may have contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall just 16 months later.

“A lot of Germans can’t fathom why the Americans elected someone like Trump,” said Schlemmer, who had the chance to thank Springsteen for the 1988 East Berlin concert at a chance meeting after a 2014 concert in Cape Town, South Africa. “We saw for ourselves how quickly a democracy was destroyed by an authoritarian. The alarm bells are ringing about what a danger Trump is. People love [Springsteen] here because he tells it like it is and because he is standing up to Trump.”

Stephan Cyrus, a 56-year-old manager from Hamburg, said Germans view Springsteen as a trustworthy American voice during a period of uncertainty.

“When Germans hear Springsteen speaking about his worries about the United States, they listen, because so many of us have so much admiration and longing for the United States and are worried about the country’s direction too,” said Cyrus, who saw the June 11 concert in Berlin. “He definitely touched us with his words.”

In one of his concert speeches, Springsteen goes after Trump without mentioning his name.

Spectators watch Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform at the Olympic Stadium, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

(Markus Schreiber / Associated Press)

“There is some very weird, strange and dangerous s— going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now.”

Springsteen then adds: “In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they are inflicting on loyal American workers. They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They’re defunding American universities that won’t back down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now. A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government.”

He tells the audiences that those in the administration “have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.”

But Springsteen ends on a hopeful note, promising his audiences: “We’ll survive this moment.”

Death becomes Michael C. Hall.

In HBO’s signature drama “Six Feet Under,” Hall was consistently praised for his role as David Fisher, the closeted gay member of a dysfunctional family operating a funeral home.

His star status was secured with his portrayal of Dexter Morgan, a Miami-based blood spatter analyst who moonlighted as a serial killer in “Dexter.” The drama flavored with dark comedy was Showtime’s most popular series during its eight-season run, which ended in 2013. And a 2021 reboot, “Dexter: New Blood,” scored solid ratings.

That limited series was most notable for its finale, in which Dexter Morgan was shot and killed by his emotionally damaged son Harrison (Jack Alcott). Acknowledging that devoted fans would likely be upset by Morgan’s demise, Hall was still eager to end the “Dexter” saga.

“It feels justifiable,” said Hall of the conclusion in a 2022 Times interview. “As upsetting as it may be, I hope audiences will appreciate the resonance of Dexter dying this way at the hands of his son.”

He also signaled at that time that he was more than ready to shelve the character he had inhabited on and off since 2006: “Playing Dexter … was a kick. It was an experience I’ve never had before and can’t imagine ever having again. But the desire for closure had to do with wanting to move on.”

But instead of winding up six feet under, Dexter now lives to kill another day. It turns out he miraculously survived that “fatal” gunshot, and is ready to resume his deadly vigilante campaign in “Dexter: Resurrection,” premiering July 11 with two episodes on Paramount+ with Showtime.

Leading the hurrahs for Dexter’s return is Hall: “I feel excited about his story continuing, and I think people will like it.”

During a video interview from New York before leaving for the last day of shooting, Hall’s upbeat demeanor was a clear indication that Dexter’s life after death agrees with him. He is already primed to keep playing Morgan for the foreseeable future.

“All I can say is I don’t think we embark on this season imagining it as a one-off,” Hall said. “Without giving away too much, I think the door will be open at the end of this.”

Sharing Hall’s enthusiasm is series creator Clyde Phillips, who is resuming his “Dexter” duties as showrunner and executive producer.

“When Michael called me, it was exhilaration,” Phillips said in a phone interview. “He said, ‘Dexter is in my blood, and he’s in your blood. Can you unkill me?’”

“All I can say is I don’t think we embark on this season imagining it as a one-off,” said Michael C. Hall of “Dexter: Resurrection.” “Without giving away too much, I think the door will be open at the end of this.”

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

The series kicks off with Morgan waking from a 10-day coma. After his recovery, he flees the fictional upstate New York hamlet of Iron Lake, where he had been living under an alias, and heads to New York City to track down — and hopefully reconnect — with Harrison, who is working at a hotel.

It’s not long before Morgan’s killer instincts resurface, eventually joining a group of fellow serial killers. The cast in the 10-episode series includes Uma Thurman, Peter Dinklage, Neil Patrick Harris and Eric Stonestreet.

Morgan’s resurrection had already been previewed in “Dexter: Original Sin,” which premiered last December and has been renewed for a second season. The prequel features Patrick Gibson as a younger Dexter Morgan who starts to indulge his sinister urges while working as a forensics intern at Miami Metro. As he did in “Dexter,” Hall provides the voice-over for his inner thoughts.

Returning from the original cast of “Dexter” for the new drama is James Remar as the ghost of Harry Morgan, Dexter’s adoptive father, and David Zayas as Det. Angel Batista. The series will have a different vibe than the first “Dexter.”

“New York is a completely new environment — different climate, different job,” said Hall, who is also an executive producer. Dexter’s “death” in “New Blood” actually gives the character a new lease on life, literally and figuratively, he added.

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1. David Zayas will reprise his role as Det. Angel Batista in “Dexter: Resurrection.” 2. Joining the cast are Uma Thurman as Charley and Peter Dinklage as Leon Prater. (Zach Dilgard/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME) 3. Also guest starring is Eric Stonestreet.

“The fact that Dexter didn’t die liberated the character to a degree,” he said. “He can’t go back to who he was, but he can reclaim some of the essential magic of who he is. He is not blind to his past, but he’s not dragging it around in the same way. He’s able to let it be.”

Phillips said there’s a notable difference between the two series when it comes to Hall’s character: “We acknowledge that Dexter is in his 50s. In the pilot of ‘Dexter,’ he was a fit 33-year-old. Now he’s recovering from a gunshot wound. He’s slower and needs to be even smarter.”

Still central to Dexter’s mission is the code inherited from his father, which is to murder only criminals who have escaped punishment. “The code is vital to his integrity and the show,” Phillips said.

The violation of that code sealed Morgan’s fate in “New Blood.” After being arrested as a murder suspect in Iron Lake, Dexter, during a jail escape, killed a police sergeant who had formed a close bond with Harrison.

“He was backed into a corner,” said Hall of Dexter’s dilemma. “He found the consideration of the reality of the wreckage, having played fast and loose with his father’s code, excruciating. He encourages his son to do him in. There was something about what Dexter had come to be that demonstrated that he needed to be taken out.”

But the purpose of “New Blood” was also to correct the biggest stumble in the trajectory of “Dexter” — the series finale.

In that episode, Morgan took his foster sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) off life support after she suffered a stroke. After taking her body out to sea to dispose of it, a distraught Morgan steered his vessel into an approaching hurricane in an apparent suicide attempt. The closing moments revealed that he had survived, winding up in a remote community far from Miami and starting a new life as a lumberjack.

Legions of fans were furious, blasting the ending as perplexing and open-ended. Hall later echoed their unhappiness, stressing that the closure in “New Blood” was much more appropriate and definitive.

“Narratively, it made sense,” Hall said. “But emotionally, it seemed that it was difficult for people to see him go out like that.”

Michael C. Hall on choosing to step away from Dexter for a time: “It was about catching my breath, doing other things, having life go on as it does.”

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

The key to Hall’s interest in reviving the beloved character was getting distance from him.

“It was about catching my breath, doing other things, having life go on as it does,” he said. His post-”New Blood” projects included starring in Broadway’s revival of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and performing in his band, Princess Goes to the Butterfly Museum, now known as Princess Goes.

Despite those endeavors and others, the possibility of reviving Dexter never completely vanished for Hall, the show’s fan base, or executives at Paramount, which produces the franchise.

The first significant spark ignited a few years ago during a guerrilla-style video shoot in Times Square for Princess Goes that was directed by Marcos Siega, who had helmed several episodes of “Dexter.”

“Seeing Siega and remembering the amazing collaborators we had over the years got me thinking, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but what if Dexter didn’t die?’ ” Hall recalled. “I was compelled by the idea, and once I shared that with others, I realized there was an openness to that notion.”

The studio conducted its own research which revealed that fans found it more plausible that Morgan did not die in “New Blood,” Hall said.

“The fans went crazy after ‘New Blood’ because they love this character so much,” Phillips said. “I’m gratified that Michael wanted to come back.”

Asked about the durability of his character, Hall smiled: “Dexter is cherished or loved for different reasons, but he is nothing if not resilient. It’s undeniable that people relish spending time with someone who is taking responsibility for his darkness. We all have our share of darkness. It’s just not as formidable as Dexter’s.”

Phillips credited Hall’s artistry for the character’s popularity. “Whenever Michael is on screen, there is a power and connection with him,” he said. “As handsome and fit as he is, he’s also an everyman. That is appealing to an audience. This isn’t the Jeffery Dahmer or Ted Bundy story. Dexter has been referred to as America’s favorite serial killer.”

The least of Hall’s challenges was getting back into “Dexter” mode.

“My cycle of cellular regeneration has happened three times over since I started doing this,” he said. “So if Dexter is not in my bones, he’s somewhere in there.”

He smiled again: “The weirdest thing about returning to Dexter is how weird it doesn’t feel. That has to do with the scripts and the stories. I just surrender to it. Whether I return to Dexter or not, it is and will remain at the top of my resume … or obituary.”