The Crystal Ball

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2024-09-23)

U2’s next album of new material is still being completed. The band (yes, including Larry Mullen) have been in studio over the last couple of weeks with Jacknife Lee working on new material. Mullen, who sat out appearances with the band at Sphere due to a series of surgeries, returned to the recording studio with the band in February to work on the new album. U2 are working in studio in Europe right now, earlier in the year they spent some time in Los Angeles where they recorded “Atomic City” in 2023. We do not know how close U2 are to completing the album, but at this point we are told that the record label is not expecting a new U2 album release this year. The label appears hopeful for something in 2025. We are all waiting, and we would love for things to progress faster, but there is little we can do until U2 feel the album is ready to release.

There’s been a lot of talk about U2’s next tour over the last few days.

As we’ve shared before, members of U2’s crew have said they are on hold for a possible summer tour for next year. We were told the band had dates on hold with different stadiums for these dates. But we have been told each time news was shared, any tour is dependent on a new album being finished. There may be venues on hold for a potential tour, and these Croke rumours may be part of that, but we do not believe we are anywhere near a full tour announcement at this point.

If U2 do get a album together for next year, then we would expect to see a full tour announcement around the same time. (We did ask a few contacts who should know about these current rumours and we were told that a full tour announcement isn’t coming ‘soon’. And although dates are ‘on-hold’ they may or may not be used depending on progress of the album. We were also told that U2 have no plans to return to the Sphere for any live performances at this time.)

There are a number of projects coming this Fall which may be of interest to fans of the band. The first is an orange vinyl pressing of U218 Singles which leaked via a listing on the Target website. The double vinyl is said to be a Target exclusive, but past Target exclusives have been also exclusives at other chains in other countries. Expect it to be announced soon. This one appeared on Target, and was later taken down. But late last week it was added back again. The release date originally was listed as October 18, later moved to October 25, and then November 1. The current listed date is October 25.

We broke news that How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb will be reissued November 22. The boxed set is expected to look similar to recent The Joshua Tree and All That You Can’t Leave Behind sets, and like those sets will be an audio only release. We were told that the item would be announced in September and late last week it appeared that an announcement is being readied, so we will likely hear about it officially this week or next. The CD version should contain five discs, and we expect the vinyl version to contain eight discs (Both will contain the same song content). The Joshua Tree had included 4 CDs or 7 vinyl discs, and All That You Can’t Leave Behind had included 5 CDs or 11 vinyl discs. For How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb on CD the five discs include the album, a disc of demos called How to Assemble an Atomic Bomb, two discs of live material, and a disc of B-Sides and remixes. We are also expecting a variety of other formats, including a 2-CD set and stand alone releases of the album on CD and vinyl. We will be updating our discography entry as we get more information about this release.

The items being released for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event should also be announced in the near future. This year’s event is being held on November 29, 2024. U2 is expected to participate again this year, with a 12-inch single. We were told some time ago that the release would tie into the Sphere performances, but we are waiting for confirmation on the final track listing. Hoping for a bit of colour vinyl…in the cold grey night, but this one may have changed direction since that time. You can read up on past Record Store Day releases here.

We are also told that work continues on Bono’s Stories of Surrender film, and that work is being done on getting this one ready for release. Honestly, we had thought this one had been put on a shelf, but it appears they are still working on it for Apple TV in the background. Release dates appear to have shifted a bit, and may again. The film, directed by Andrew Dominick, was filmed across a number of performances. The final two public shows at The Beacon Theatre in New York were filmed in May 2023, and additional footage of fans was collected in shows leading up to those two performances, as well as ahead and after those performances. An additional day of filming saw fans being invited to a special filming session. Bono also filmed footage at his final tour stop in Italy. More information on what was filmed for this can be found in our news section.

The 2023 fan club gift, a book of lyrics covering the period from 1979 – 1988 is still being sent out to fans. A recent poll we held via X asked how many fans had not yet received their full 2023 gift. At the end of August, about 30% of those who are subscribers and expecting the gift, said they had not yet received the gift. With these delays in the 2023 gift, we aren’t holding our breath for the 2024 gift, which is a second book of lyrics, to start shipping soon.

It also means we’re nearing the time when the 2025 gift will be announced. We’re hopeful after two years without a musical element to the gift they will return to such a present. We do not know what a gift may be at this point, but U2Com were recently able to stream the final night from Sphere, there is the soundtrack from V-U2 which was filmed at a few nights prior, there are the Achtung Baby ambient mixes that could be heard at Sphere during the shows there and more. Those ambient mixes are lovely, I would love to have a copy.

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