Every year, Oklahoma's Woody Guthrie Center honors a different artist for contributions to activism through music with the Woody Guthrie Prize. Bruce Springsteen, Mavis Staples, Joan Baez, and John Mellencamp all have Woody Guthrie Prizes. Tom Morello got it last year, and Pussy Riot got it two years ago. This year's Woody Guthrie Prize recipient is U2, a band that has long made a point out of commitment to justice, though their recent efforts in that arena have been a bit sad. On Tuesday night, U2's Bono and the Edge, representing the rest of the band, came to Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa to accept the prize and to play a special set.
Last night, Bono told the crowd at Cain's Ballroom that it was the first time he and Edge had been to that venue since 1981, when a very young U2 played their first Oklahoma show there. At the time, the venue wouldn't serve them alcohol, since Edge was 19 and Bono was 20. The two of them played U2 classics like "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "One," and "Pride (In The Name Of Love)." They changed a few of their lyrics to make them more topical, putting a "sanctuary city" reference into "Pride," and they covered Woody Guthrie's "Jesus Christ" and "This Train Is Bound For Glory," the gospel traditional that famously served as the inspiration for Guthrie's autobiographical novel Bound For Glory.
Onstage, Bono said, "If there was royalty in America, it'd be the Guthrie family -- quite like the Kennedys. Well, most of 'em. Careful with that Camelot." He and the Edge also sat down for an onstage conversation with T Bone Burnett. Below, check out some fan videos from last night, as well as Bono and Edge's setlist, via Setlist.fm.
SETLIST:
01 "Running To Stand Still"
02 "This Train Is Bound For Glory" (traditional)
03 "Mothers Of The Disappeared"
04 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
05 "One"
06 "Pride (In The Name Of Love)"
07 "Yahweh"
08 "Jesus Christ" (Woody Guthrie cover)
