Bono also recited a lyric for a song that’s currently being worked on
The 2025 Woody Guthrie Prize celebration, hosted by the Woody Guthrie Center, brought together music legends and guests in Tulsa to honor the spirit of folk icon Woody Guthrie on Tuesday, October 21st. The recipient this year was the world-renowned band U2, represented by Bono and The Edge, who accepted the award and participated in an on-stage conversation about art and activism with legendary producer and musician T Bone Burnett. The evening included a surprise six-song performance from Bono and The Edge.
Bono and The Edge accepted the Woody Guthrie Prize on behalf of U2 for embodying the social-conscious legacy of Woody Guthrie through music and message.
“Bob Dylan really did bring us to the place where the song was an instrument to open up worlds. And the world of Woody Guthrie, I wouldn’t have entered if not for Bob,” Bono shared. “America is the greatest song still yet to be written. The poetry is there, but it’s still being written… don’t imagine it will continue to be extraordinary on its own, that if you fell asleep and woke up in twenty years, the world would be fairer or freer. It won’t, that’s not the way it works.”
“Our favorite protest songs always had a sense of vision, something to aim for…you don’t talk about the darkness, you make the light brighter,” The Edge followed. “I believe music can actually change the mood of the room and actually shift a culture.”
Bono and The Edge returned to Cain’s Ballroom for the first time since U2’s 1981 Boy U.S. tour stop. The pair surprised attendees with a six-song performance that included “Running to Stand Still with a snippet of “Bound for Glory” by Guthrie, “Mothers of the Disappeared,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “One,” “Pride (In The Name of Love)” with a snippet of “Jesus Christ” by Guthrie,” and “Yahweh.”
Preceding the presentation, the two band members participated in an intimate on-stage moderated conversation with legendary producer and musician T Bone Burnett.
When speaking with T Bone about the songwriting process relative to protest songs, Bono and Edge both spoke about needing to be moved. Bono said, “You can’t write a song to order.” He elaborated with a surprise to the audience by reading lyrics to a song that is a work in progress, written about the killing of Awdah Hathaleen, the Palestinian activist and consultant on the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land, murdered in July 2025 by an Israeli settler. It’s been widely reported that U2 is in the studio working on new music, and this was the first glimpse of any content.
Remarks also included those by Woody Guthrie’s granddaughter Anna Canoni and Woody Guthrie Center Director Cady Shaw, recognizing U2 as torch-bearers of the Guthrie legacy.
The evening served as a fundraising event to support the Center’s educational programs, public concerts, exhibitions, and the legacy of Woody Guthrie.
The event was presented by the Harper House Music Foundation.
