The Immigrant Experience in Music: 25 Heartfelt Songs to Reflect on This Fourth of July

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Perhaps never in recent memory has the angst of the immigrant in the United States felt as acute as it does today, in the middle of President Trump’s often brutal immigration crackdown.  

While the vicissitudes of the immigrant experience have always been a constant in history, across time and lands, they are permanently front of mind in the U.S., which since the 1970s has been the main destination for international migrants, according to the World Migrant Report. Today, more than 50 million immigrants live in the country, with the biggest population coming from Mexico, the big neighbor to the South.

No wonder then that music in Spanish has long served as a vehicle for immigrant stories, of every stripe. As we prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the U.S., we dove into those immigrant songs that have spoken to us through the years, but particularly now, at a time when we – Billboard’s Latin music crew — are taking stock of our personal immigrant experiences.

We listened to favorites like Los Tigres Del Norte’s “De Paisano a Paisano,” which was released in 2000, but narrates in chilling detail the scorn and rejection suffered by the working immigrant today; and Ricardo Arjona’s “Mojado,” the ode to the everyday undocumented immigrant worker, who “Isn’t from here because his name isn’t registered, nor from there, because he left (no es de aquí porque su nombre no aparece en los archivos,Ni es de allá porque se fue).”

There’s the cheeky, sardonic “Frijolero” by Mexican alt rockers Molotov from 2003 (‘Don’t call me gringo, you f—in’ beaner, Stay on your side of that goddamn river”), and Residente’s angry “This Is Not America,” which, with words, reclaims the land taken.

And then, there’s those songs that yearn for the home and country lost, like Celia Cruz’s “Por Si Acaso No Regreso.”

For years, we have collected songs of patriotism for Fourth of July. This year, our list of songs reflect frustration, anger, angst, resignation, but also, a sliver of hope.

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Guns N’ Roses Debut Nothin’ And Atlas At Tour Opening Show

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Guns N’ Roses have officially begun their 2026 tour and treated fans to the first ever live performances of Nothin’ and Atlas. You can find videos and the full setlist from the night below.

The concert took place at Parque Fundidora in Monterrey, Mexico on Saturday March 28 and marked the opening night of the band’s 2026 tour schedule. It follows a busy stretch of concerts last year, which concluded in October.

This tour also marks their first since drummer Frank Ferrer exited the group in 2025 after close to two decades. Just a day before the show, keyboard player Melissa Reese also shared that she would not be joining the upcoming dates due to personal matters.

Like many of their concerts, the band began the night with major fan favourites including Welcome To The Jungle and Mr Brownstone, later adding classics such as Paradise City, Don’t Cry, Civil War, November Rain, and their take on Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door as the show continued.

Along with their well known version of the Bob Dylan song, Axl Rose and the rest of the band also performed several other covers during the night. These included Black Sabbath’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Wings’ Live And Let Die, Velvet Revolver’s Slither, The Damned’s New Rose, and UK Subs’ Down On The Farm.

The Monterrey performance also included the first live performances of their newer songs Nothin’ and Atlas, which were originally released in December. See the full setlist and clips from the show below.

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Guns N’ Roses’ setlist was:

‘Welcome to the Jungle’
‘Mr. Brownstone’
‘Bad Obsession’
‘Live and Let Die’ (Wings cover)
‘Slither’ (Velvet Revolver cover)
‘Chinese Democracy’
‘Pretty Tied Up’
‘It’s So Easy’
‘Yesterdays’
‘Double Talkin’ Jive’
‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ (Black Sabbath cover)
‘Nothin’’ (live debut)
‘Dead Horse’
‘Perhaps’
‘Civil War’
‘Atlas’ (live debut)
‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ (Bob Dylan cover)
‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’
‘November Rain’
‘Patience’’
‘New Rose ‘(The Damned cover) (Duff on vocals)
‘Down on the Farm’ (UK Subs cover)
‘Don’t Cry’
‘Nightrain’
‘Paradise City’

These two tracks also represent the group’s first new releases in two years, following Perhaps and The General which arrived in 2023.

After the Mexico show, Slash and the rest of the band will continue the tour in April with nine major concerts scheduled across Brazil. In May, they will head to Florida for two performances before moving on to a European run across June and July. That leg begins with two dates in Poland, followed by a performance in Dublin and an already confirmed appearance at the UK’s Download Festival.

Additional stops include concerts in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Belgium, before they return to North America for another round of shows. Those dates begin in North Carolina on July 23 and conclude in Georgia on September 19. Buy US tickets here, European tickets here, and see the full list of dates below.

In other news, guitarist Slash recently suggested that the band may not perform at the Las Vegas Sphere and also hinted that new Guns N’ Roses material could be on the way, saying that “everybody [in the band] is thinking about it”.

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