U2’s Bono and the Edge accepted the 2025 Woody Guthrie Prize on Tuesday night at Cain’s Ballroom, using the moment to speak about the moral weight of history, the purpose of protest music, and the need to resist political polarization.
“We have to consciously work against history, lest it repeat itself,” Bono told the audience of roughly 800. The comment set the tone for a restrained evening that balanced performance and reflection, tying the band’s long history of activism to Guthrie’s legacy as one of America’s foundational protest songwriters.
The Woody Guthrie Prize is awarded annually by the Woody Guthrie Center to artists who embody the late folk singer’s commitment to social justice and truth. Presenting the award, Guthrie’s granddaughter Anna Canoni described U2 as a band that “stands firmly in the belief that popular music is also a force for justice and truth.”
Bono and the Edge accepted the honor quietly, choosing to perform instead of delivering a long speech. Their 45-minute acoustic set featured songs that have defined U2’s political and humanitarian voice: “Running to Stand Still,” “Mothers of the Disappeared,” and “Pride (In the Name of Love).” Between those, they worked in Guthrie standards like “This Train Is Bound for Glory” and “They Laid Jesus Christ in the Grave.” The pair closed with “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” turning the audience into a choir on its famous chorus before the Edge added a spare, searching guitar solo.
Cain’s Ballroom, a landmark of Tulsa’s Red Dirt scene, sits just a short drive from Guthrie’s hometown of Okemah. The Guthrie Center, which opened in 2013, houses the songwriter’s archives and shares a wall with the Bob Dylan Center, a pairing that reflects the lineage from Guthrie to Dylan to artists like U2.
Since its inception, the prize has gone to artists whose work extends Guthrie’s ideals, including Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, Chuck D, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Morello. Guthrie’s influence also runs through Oklahoma’s music identity, from early Red Dirt pioneers like Bob Childers and Tom Skinner to modern acts such as the Turnpike Troubadours. Each July, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah brings that tradition to life, hosting songwriters who continue Guthrie’s focus on working-class experiences and social commentary.
After the performance, Bono and the Edge joined producer T Bone Burnett for a discussion about protest music and artistic responsibility. “Bob Dylan brought us to a place where the song was an instrument to open another world,” Bono said. “The world of Woody Guthrie, I probably wouldn’t have entered it without Dylan.”
The Edge drew a direct line from the protest music of the 1960s to the present. “I believe music can change the temperature of the room and sometimes even the mood of a country,” he said. “We saw it in the United States in the Sixties.”
Bono added a personal note: “We have to rise above argument and politics. The subject we were protesting most often turned out to be ourselves, the hypocrisy of the human heart.”
When Canoni returned to the stage to formally present the award, the crowd stood for a final ovation. For an encore, Bono led a brief, unplanned singalong of the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.”
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