Breaking Waves…Slane 2026, Taylor Swift, Gavin Friday and Anton Corbijn

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2025-10-09)

The Slane Castle concert for 2026 has been announced. It is not U2. The concert will be headlined by Luke Combs, with support acts, The Script and Ty Myers and the Castellows. We can put the Slane 2026 rumours to bed now. We’ve been told since the rumours started that U2 would not be playing the venue next year, and chose not to publicize those stories for that reason.

Taylor Swift has released a new album, and it’s hard to escape news of it.

The first single, “The Fate of Ophelia” has a short instrumental segment in the first minute that has us humming “Ordinary Love”, anyone else?

With U2 expected to release a new album late next year, we’ve been watching the Taylor Swift album roll out carefully. The same tricks that are in use to sell more copies for this release are likely to be in use next year for the release of the U2 album as well. So far? One cassette format, eight variants on vinyl in different colours and with different covers. 18 different CD versions, some featuring alternate covers, other with exclusive tracks and some packed with other items. And there’s multiple formats on digital platforms as well including acoustic bonus tracks in some places, original songwriting voice memos in others, and track by track introductions elsewhere. An exclusive behind the scenes video was also available.

I was really hoping this variant foolishness would have died off before U2 released something new, but it appears it hasn’t. It does appear that the label is moving more towards variants on CD at least, which are a lower price point than vinyl.

For Songs of Surrender U2 had multiple versions of the album on CD, vinyl, and cassette. The more recent release, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb also came in multiple formats. We expect next year’s album to do the same.

Rolling Stone published a list of “The 250 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century So Far” and U2 made the list at #57. “Beautiful Day” is their only song on the list, and Rolling Stone writes, “Teaming up with their golden-age producers Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, and Steve Lillywhite, the band reignited its signature mix of soaring studio atmospherics, the Edge’s turbo-charged guitar, and Bono’s vaulting vocal heroism to create an uplifting anthem about pushing past personal entropy by grounding yourself in the elemental joys of life.”

The full list can be seen here.

Back in January, Rolling Stone published their “The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far” and U2 appeared at #162 with All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

The 21st Century started on January 1, 2001. Both the album and song came out in late 2000. Close enough I guess…“Beautiful Day” was released commercially as a single on October 9, 2000, exactly 25 years ago today!

While U2 are working on finishing up their next album of new material, longtime friend and collaborator, Gavin Friday has been out touring. After a string of dates earlier in 2025, he has a number of upcoming dates, including some just announced yesterday.

The dates are to support his 2025 album, Ecce Homo and are as follows:

  • October 17, 2025 Lodz, Poland, Klub Wytwornia
  • October 19, 2025 Parma, Italy, Teatro al Parco
  • February 18, 2026 Limerick, Ireland, Dolans Warehouse
  • February 21, 2026 Leuven, Belgium, Het Depot
  • February 22, 2026 Antwerp, Belgium, Bourla Schouwburg
  • February 24, 2026 Amsterdam, Netherlands, Royal Theatre Carre
  • February 25, 2026 Roeselare, Belgium, De Spil
  • March 12, 2026 Dublin, Ireland, Vicar Street

For those interested in more information about the shows and ticket sales you can visit GavinFriday.com.

Gavin also appeared on Red Ronnie TV yesterday, which features a look at Gavin’s career, early clips of the Virgin Prunes, and from his solo career. A small update on U2 is included, Gavin shares the band are in studio “busy making a new album”, and he spoke with Bono just a day earlier. Gavin also confirmed that next year the Virgin Prunes albums Heresie and The Moon Looked Down and Laughed will be reissued on BMG.

Another longtime collaborator, Anton Corbijn, has a newer book out which is available via Hannibal Books. Adam Clayton contributes text to the book. The book, called Corbijn, Anton is available in different languages. The book was published to accompany Corbijn’s exhibition at Fotografiska Stockholm.

Many thanks to Adele, Zbyszko and Jay for your help with items above. You can find past Breaking Waves reports here.

< Next News Entry | Previous News Entry >

u2songs.com was formerly known as u2wanderer.org. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook