Days of Ash: Inside U2’s Lenten cry for justice

Legendary Irish rock band U2 released their latest EP, Days of Ash, last week, on Ash Wednesday.

That the collection of six new songs appeared on the first day of Lent was no accident. Ash Wednesday is a day marked by repentance and mourning, the beginning of a season of grief that leads us to Christ — the one who broke the bonds, loosed the chains, carried the cross and bore our shame. Forty days that culminate in the moment when the stone is rolled away.

Days of Ash is U2’s most overtly political release in decades. There is of course an irony to the social media comments that have lauded U2, but have suggested they stay out of politics. They have quite simply never done this. And their songs feel as urgent now as they did in the early 1980s: “I can’t believe the news today / I can’t close my eyes and make it go away”. Wars, assassinations, genocides, protests, uprisings, invasions…when U2 addressed the Troubles in Northern Ireland, they sang of ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’. Bono would stress that it was not a rebel song. It was written by a Protestant band from Dublin singing a song named after the day British soldiers shot and killed unarmed Catholics. Rather than apportion blame to one side or the other, the band sang that the “real battle” was to “claim the victory Jesus won”.

‘Pride (In the Name of Love)’ commemorated the life and murder of Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was given a Christ-like status as the one “betrayed with a kiss”. Even in death, Dr King’s killers could not diminish the power of his message – love.

In the early 2000s, U2 once again sang of the Troubles, this time the 1998 Omagh bombing. With a weary mix of potent grief and jaded hope, they sang of “heaven on earth, we need it now / I’m sick of all of this hanging around”. The chorus cried out, “Jesus, can you take the time to throw a drowning man a line, peace on earth”.  

Days of Ash revives this tradition. The six songs each address a different situation.

Songs of faith

The first track, ‘American Obituary’ mourns the killing of Renee Good at the hands of ICE agents earlier this year. The song is the sonic cousin of ‘Zoo Station’ and ‘Vertigo’ – The Edge’s guitar seethes with rage. Bono declares that “America will rise against the people of the lie”.

The band once described The Joshua Tree as a love letter to America – they have always loved the USA as their second home. When they sing today that “I love you more than hate loves war”, they mean it. “The power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power” is a direct address to the current occupants of the White House. But, in the tradition of Dr King, the antidote to hate is love.  

The second song, ‘Tears of Things’, draws its title from a book by the popular Franciscan friar Richard Rohr. The book seeks to offer a perspective of hope based on the Old Testament prophets. U2 imagine a conversation between Michelangelo’s David statue and his creator. He portrays David, the psalmist, as one who has been made as “an instrument for melody and word” because he was “made for worship” and is carrying on his lips “the sacred song that every soldier fears”. The song refutes the notion that David had to become Goliath to kill Goliath. The song contrasts Mussolini’s visit to the David statue with the sound of church bells ringing. The final lyric is perhaps the heartbeat of the whole EP: “Everybody is my people / Let my people go”.  

Three more songs and a spoken poem address a range of events. ‘Song of the Future’ commemorates Sarina Esmailzadeh, an Iranian schoolgirl who, with thousands of her peers, took part in the Women, Life, and Freedom movement of 2022. They were protesting the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who was killed for not wearing her hijab to the dictated government standards. Sarina died at the hands of security forces a week later. These women are the songs of the future, though that future “never saw the promise in her eyes”. 

The poem ‘Wildpeace’, written by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai and read by Nigerian artist Adeola (of Les Amazones d’Afrique), shows that peace is not just the grand gestures of the wolf and the lamb lying side by side, but a quiet resistance that grows like wild flowers.

‘One Life at a Time’ is a phrase taken from the eulogy delivered for Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian non-violent activist, English teacher, and father of three who was killed in the West Bank in 2025.

‘Yours Eternally’ sees U2 and Ed Sheeran joined by Ukrainian musician-turned-solider Taras Topolia. The song speaks of chasing “the glory of a world that we can’t yet see”. A quarter of a century earlier, U2 sang of packing a suitcase for a place that “has to be believed to be seen”. Because, “if you have the chance to hope, it’s a duty”.  

How long?

U2 concluded their 1983 album War with the song ‘40’. Taken from Psalm 40, the band finished every show that decade with the cry of, “how long to sing this song?” The question still lingers, “how long? How long, O Lord?” 

Days of Ash enters the season of Lent crying out to a God who could, if He wanted to, “stop a bullet in midair”. But He doesn’t.

Instead, Days of Ash, and these days of Lent, point to a God who entered our violent world. Jesus too was killed at the hands of a cruel regime. Jesus too was innocent, silent as a lamb to the slaughter. To their critics, U2 are naïve. They are multi-millionaires whose lives are so far removed from protests and wars. But to me, U2 – as they have always done – address these stories with a direct, visceral energy. Hate will not win. Evil will not win. Death will not win. As they sing, referencing 1 John 4:18, “perfect love drives out all fear”.

We still can’t believe the news today. But one day, these days of ash and Lent remind us, every tear will be wiped away. The stone has been removed. Every sorrow will be consumed in everlasting joy. The deserts will bloom. And if you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of the future today.

The same God who said “let my people go” will redeem and restore all things. In these days of ash, we claim the victory Jesus won.  

Days of Ash by U2 is available to stream now