A cryptic comment from Bono in a new U2 interview has got fans dreading that their new album, out next week, could be their last.
uncertain
album → get → interview
It comes as the band this week announced the first shows of an upcoming world tour, which will start in Mexico in February and is set to conclude in Dublin, possibly in 2028.
uncertain
which → come → 2028
The group releases their 16th album, Carnaval de Luz, next Friday, weeks after playing a secret concert at their old school, Mount Temple in Dublin.
asserted
group → release → Dublin
A cryptic comment from Bono in a new U2 interview has got fans dreading that their new album, out next week, could be their last
An interview recorded on the day of that concert with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, in which U2 discuss the new record at length, was released this week on the same day the tour was announced.
And one remark Bono made during the chat has got some fans fearing that the rockers, who are celebrating 50 years together this year, are preparing to wind the operation down.
uncertain
who → get → operation
Lowe suggests the band’s return to their old school, which will soon be knocked and rebuilt, amounts to them saying hello and goodbye at the same time.
uncertain
them → suggest → time
He describes that as ‘symbolic… because I feel like Carnaval de Luz is almost a goodbye and a hello again’, then asks: ‘Does that make sense to you?’
Bono says in reply: ‘Mm-hmm.
asserted
Bono → describe → reply
That’s for sure.’
asserted
That → ’ → ?
Lowe suggests the band’s return to their old school, which will soon be knocked and rebuilt, amounts to them saying hello and goodbye at the same time
There is a brief pause before the singer changes the subject without elaborating further.
The comment has sparked some debate among fans online, who are divided over its gravity.
uncertain
who → suggest → gravity
One fan of the band wrote on X: ‘Considering that it’s nine years since their last album and the fact [that] Larry is seemingly limited these days, I can’t imagine them going on much longer.’
asserted
them → write → album
Drummer Larry Mullen Jr underwent high-risk neck surgery after years of struggling with chronic pain caused by a congenital fusion in a facet joint.
asserted
Jr → undergo → joint
He missed the band’s 40 shows at The Sphere in Las Vegas in 2023 and 2024, and has suggested he may only play for an hour each night on the upcoming tour.
uncertain
he → miss → tour
Another fan noted it was not the first time Bono has made such a comment, but pointed out that most of the band members will be almost 70 when the next tour ends, so it will be ‘hard to keep producing and touring at that stage’.
asserted
it → note → stage
Another said: ‘I think this is [the] last big tour cycle, that’s for sure.’
asserted
that → say → ?
Other fans played down the remark, arguing that Bono was simply speaking of the themes of the upcoming album.
asserted
Bono → play → album
And one wrote: ‘They seem to be having a real burst of creative energy so maybe it’s goodbye to an era and also the start of something different.’
asserted
it → write → something
Still other fans pointed to a recent interview in The New York Times as proof that there is plenty of life in the old dogs yet – though in the same interview Bono acknowledges that they do have a shelf life.
asserted
they → point → life
Another fan noted it was not the first time Bono has made such a comment, but pointed out that most of the band members will be almost 70 when the next tour ends, so it will be ‘hard to keep producing and touring at that stage'
asserted
it → note → stage
The interviewer asks if the band has ‘some sense of how you want [your] story to end’, to which guitarist The Edge says: ‘We’re still creatively extremely inspired and active, and there are lots of songs that have yet to be released, yet to be finished.
asserted
that → ask → songs
So I can’t see that ending anytime soon.’
asserted
that → see → ?
Bono then says: ‘More likely, I think, is that people tire of you and that we tire of going the distance to meet them, resulting in them tiring of you.
asserted
them → say → you
‘I think if we keep playing live till we drop, there will always be people.
asserted
we → think → ?
But we have one problem in this regard, which is that we pledged to each other when we were 18, 17, 16, that we would never, ever walk onto a stage without it being everything.
asserted
it → have → stage
‘We haven’t betrayed that yet.
asserted
We → betray → that
We’ve had fistfights onstage, we’ve had them backstage, we’ve had madness, but we’ve never betrayed that.
asserted
we → have → that
The band announced the first details of their Greatest Show On Earth World Tour this week.
asserted
band → announce → Tour
Eleven stadium shows have been announced for a first Latin American leg kicking off in early spring 2027, while 12 European summer shows were also revealed.
asserted
shows → announce → spring
Further shows are going to be announced, including another European leg, but whatever comes next, the band has promised to finish the tour in Ireland.
asserted
band → go → Ireland
Eleven stadium shows have been announced for a first Latin American leg kicking off in early spring 2027, while 12 European summer shows were also revealed
A band press release said that with plans ‘already in the works for 2028, the band is looking ahead to their all-important return home to Ireland’.
asserted
band → announce → Ireland
The Edge said: ‘We can’t say too much about the next leg of The Greatest Show On Earth – we’re still figuring it out – but what we can say is, we’ll be wrapping it up in Ireland.
‘
asserted
we → say → Ireland
There’s nowhere else we’d want to be for that party.’
asserted
we → ’ → party
Elsewhere in the Mount Temple interview with Lowe, The Edge says that U2 ‘don’t have really a musical genre that we fit into’ and are AI-proof.
asserted
we → say → that
‘I discovered this recently very clearly when I was playing around with some of these AI music programs,’ he said.
asserted
he → discover → programs
He went on: ‘I was trying to see if it could come up with a U2 song.
uncertain
it → go → song
‘And I realised that it is possible to get it to write a country song because it’s very strictly codified.
asserted
it → realise → song
‘But nothing we do…
asserted
we → do → ?
I mean, my guitar would probably be most [distinctive]…
asserted
guitar → mean → ?
I suppose I go certain places sonically.
asserted
I → suppose → places
We don’t know how to do that.
asserted
We → know → that
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
asserted
we → accept → article
The Aporia
