U2 released its sixteenth studio album, Carnaval De Luz, the band’s first collection of new material since 2017, according to RTBF.
U2 Launches Album in Dublin
The band celebrated its half-century milestone from Dublin, following a surprise performance on the upper floor of a pub, according to L’Humanité. In September, the musicians returned to their former Dublin school, Mount Temple, before a surprise appearance on Grafton Street, RTBF reported.
The lineup consists of Bono on vocals, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who formed the group in 1976 on the benches of a Dublin secondary school.
The collaboration traces its roots back to 1978 in Limerick, when Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. played under the moniker The Hype before adopting the name U2.
Nearly half a century later, copies of the commemorative vinyl went on sale at the Guinness Storehouse in St James’s Gate, Dublin, alongside two limited-edition t-shirts, with a portion of the sales revenue directed to the Guinness Dublin 8 Community Fund.
Band Members Discuss New Record
Produced by Jacknife Lee, the 16th studio album follows Songs of Experience released in 2017. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. said in an interview with Rolling Stone, “Who needs to hear a new U2 record?” and questioned whether they still had anything left to say, La Tribune reported. Guitarist The Edge described the overarching theme as “joy as an act of defiance.”
Bono characterized the current era as “the most troubled period we have ever been through.” The new record extends a creative phase that also produced the EPs Days of Ash and Easter Lily earlier in the year. The 12-track project features contributions from several longtime collaborators.