U2 have joined fellow rocker Bruce Springsteen in releasing songs in response to current events in America, including the shooting death of Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Titled Days of Ash, the Irish rock band’s new six-song EP is described in a press release as “an immediate response to current events and inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom.”
U2 frontman Bono said in a statement that the tracks are “very different in mood and theme” from those that will be released as part of the band’s new album later this year. “These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world,” he said. “They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation.
“Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working on those now… because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there’s nothing normal about these mad and maddening times, and we need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future. And each other,” Bono continued.
The first of the six songs, “American Obituary,” is inspired by Good, a mother-of-three who was shot and killed January 7 by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
“Renee Good born to die free / American mother of three / Seventh day January / A bullet for each child, you see,” Bono sings.
“America will rise / against the people of the lie,” he continues before going into the chorus: “I love you more / than hate loves war.”
The EP also includes a track called “One Life at a Time,” written for slain Palestinian father-of-three Awdah Hathaleen who was killed by an Israeli settler in 2025.
“All the songs on Days of Ash are of the moment we wish we weren’t in... but are,” Bono told The Sun.
He added: “The songs being presented here are all reactions to present day anxieties, some knee-jerk, some more considered... all likely to offend or annoy some parties, but that’s kind of our job!”
In releasing the EP, the Dublin-born band — consisting of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. — join Bruce Springsteen in targeting ICE through music.
Earlier this week, Springsteen and his E Street Band announced their Land of Hope and Dreams tour, which kicks off next month at Minneapolis’ Target Center.
Springsteen’s 20-date run in Minneapolis comes weeks after the release of his protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” which criticized Donald Trump after ICE agents invaded the city on his orders. The song was written in response to the deaths of Good and Alex Pretti, who was also shot and killed by federal immigration agents in January.
Pretti and Good are mentioned by name throughout the song, including with the profound stanza: “And there were bloody footprints / Where mercy should have stood / And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets / Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”
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