The Crystal Ball: What’s Coming Next?

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2018-01-12)

Updated: January 14, 2017

Achtung Tour Babies!

With the flurry of rumours going around about tour dates and tour cities, we checked in with our sources, and have been told the tour announcement will happen next week. As of yesterday some dates were now finalized, but at that point they were still trying putting the final details together about a few dates. That included choosing between two different cities for one set of dates, as both have currently been booked for the same time. So there could still be a few changes between now and the announcement, thus any dates you are seeing should still be treated as rumour for now, as there is still some uncertainty in the final itinerary. Looks like they are coming right down to the wire on some of these dates being confirmed and still making some final decisions. But we are told the whole thing should be announced ‘next week’.

We have also been told that two additional shows for North America were planned, but not announced before Christmas. It is possible that those may still be announced as well. But very little has been mentioned of the North American tour lately.

The tour is said to run from early September until late October in Europe. They will be playing indoor venues. The North American dates are currently set to end on June 29th, so it appears the band will be taking July and August off before resuming the tour. Over at U2Start, they are tracking a few city rumours at this point. It does look like only the second leg of the tour will be announced at this point, and the expected third leg is still being plotted.

Although the final itinerary is said to be not settled at this point, we can share that it is likely that the opening dates will be in Cologne, Germany, with that city receiving two dates in early September. At the time of announcement, only one of these will be announced, with the second show being announced only after sales have started.

Other cities? Manchester, Paris, Madrid, and Belfast are all being mentioned. We are told that there will be 12-13 cities announced next week, with most cities being left open so two shows can be played in each city. Initially, when the announcement is made only one date per city will be announced, but room is being left to add a second date. Only a small number of cities would more than two shows, and early rumours for Paris say they will receive 4 shows, if the shows sell well. We expect more information to leak out over the next few days if the announcement will be next week.

The announcement will outline when tickets will go on sale for these dates, as well as the details of the pre-sale from U2.Com and how to register. At this point, there isn’t much you can do until the announcement, but you can take the opportunity to log in at U2.Com and check out your profile so you are aware of when your account expires. A second pre-sale, which will happen after the U2.Com pre-sale, was made available if you pre-ordered the album through certain retailers, and those details will be made available next week as well.

We are told that the first pre-sales will happen this coming week as well, with them starting the day after the announcement (which suggests they will start on Wednesday). These pre-sales will be for U2.Com members who are in the Experience category. (Maintaining a current subscription since December 24, 2016 was the criteria for the Experience category in North America for leg one). It is not expected that there will be a fan verification process in place for the second leg of the tour for shows on the general sale, which should mean no system for the fan club pre-sales either.

Get Out Of Your Own Way

On December 11, 2017, a month ago, the video for “Get Out of Your Own Way” directed by Jonas Åkerlund and filmed in Mexico City in October while the band was there, was teased on a variety of social media platforms. On January 5, 2018 and January 9, 2018, video from U2’s performance of that song at Trafalgar Square in London which was filmed for a video has also been teased on U2’s social media platforms. But fans are left asking when the video will debut.

In the meantime, a remix of the song, called the Switch Remix, was also delivered to digital store fronts and streaming services worldwide on December 29, 2017.

The video is coming. And we are told at least one version of the video should debut next week, with the video being available for purchase on iTunes next Friday, January 19th. We don’t know which video will debut first, whether it will be the version filmed in Mexico, or the one filmed in London, but both are said to be coming soon.

Further, the song, “Get Out of Your Own Way” is being pushed to Modern Rock Radio in North America on January 16, which is next Tuesday. Makes sense that a new video would be part of the push for this song.

Promotional Stops

The Grammy Awards are being televised on January 28, 2018. Rumours that U2 will appear and will perform have hit our ears, and Adam Clayton even teased an appearance at the Grammys on U2’s social media accounts, with a post that was swiftly deleted. The post appeared on January 8, and was attributed to Adam Clayton and read “Winter walk thinking about Grammys in N.Y.” In the post was a bridge with a lobster.

We are told that the band will use the time in New York City to potentially do a few other media appearances to continue promotion of the new album. Keep your ears open. We’ll hopefully be able to share a bit more next week.

Questionnaire

Finally, have you had a chance to take our questionnaire about the new album yet? We’re asking 24 quick questions that ask for a variety of information about the new album and your favorites. Once we close the questions, we will summarize the results here on U2Songs, so please take an opportunity to take the questions yourself. Many thanks.

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