Springsteen Gets Belafonte Award, Performs With Bono
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Bono presented Springsteen with the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center on June 13, introduced onstage by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro
- Bono framed Springsteen as 'America' in his speech, linking Springsteen's songwriting to cinema and noting he never took an acting role like Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, or John Lennon
- Springsteen called the current political moment 'one of the most divisive times that I've lived through since 1968' and described America as a 'sacred argument' short on recognition of 'common humanity' from 'the top of our administration on down'
- Springsteen publicly regretted turning down Bono's (RED) campaign request to license 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes' for a Gap commercial in 2007, saying 'I should have fuckin' done it. People would hear it like a hit'
- Patti Smith and longtime band member Tony Shanahan dedicated 'Peaceable Kingdom' to children globally before being joined by Springsteen and a technician-summoned Bono for 'People Have the Power'
- Springsteen closed the evening alone with an acoustic 'Land of Hope and Dreams,' dedicating it to Pam Belafonte and 'my lovely wife'
Why it matters: The award ceremony doubled as a rare convergence of three politically outspoken rock icons on one Tribeca stage, with Springsteen using the platform to deliver his most pointed political remarks of the year, drawing an explicit line between today's divisiveness and the late 1960s.
