What Comes Next? Recent Interviews

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2021-11-23)

Update: November 24, 2021

Bono appeared on The Today Show today to discuss his appearance in Sing 2 with Jenna Bush. The interview was pre-recorded and took place earlier in the week. As part of that interview he was asked about the band’s next steps.

“It’s nice to work without a purpose. Which is to say, it’s not like somebody is coming up and saying we have to have a U2 album or we have to have a U2 tour. We’ve been talking, and are excited to work together again. In the next few weeks there will be some recording.”

The comments echo comments made by Adam Clayton and The Edge in recent weeks which can be found below. It appears the band is working on new material but have not yet committed to a final plan on releasing the material or for any touring.

Original Story: November 23, 2021

As part of the Achtung Baby promotion members of the band have been doing press worldwide, discussing the 30th anniversary of the album and answering a few questions about what comes next for the band.

Adam Clayton recently spoke with Silvio Essinger at O Globo via Zoom.

Clayton spoke about heading to Berlin to record the album, “The town had that dirty, urban spirit, and it was pretty bohemian back when Bowie and Iggy were there. But we arrived just as the wall was being tour down and everything we had hoped to find was gone. Berlin was changing, a little confused.”

On the future plans for U2 Adam mentioned the single “Your Song Saved My Life” which is being used in the Sing 2 film. He said one of the projects that the band is working on is the sessions from which that song evolved. “We have new songs and we’re hoping to release an album in a couple of years, but we can’t talk much about it yet. I will just say that some of the tracks fill us with pride.”

He also mentions a second project that the band is working on which is the work he’s spoken about in the past where the band is recording older songs in different keys and arrangements. He says that the reinterpretations “breathe new life into the songs.” He says that at this time the plans for releasing this work is unsure, and that it may be something they release at once, or they may do it in a series of events.

The full interview with O Globo includes Clayton talking about male nudity, electronic music, recording the album and more. The full interview is available here.

The Edge has also been doing interviews and spoke with Andy Greene over at Rolling Stone. That interview was conducted via Zoom as well. The Edge too mentioned the band is “locked in the tower of song and working away on a bunch of new things. I’m just having so much fun writing and not necessarily having to think about where it’s going to go.” He reveals that the band has yet to settle on any producers for the new material. Of the new song he mentions that Sing 2 “is a movie about great songs and we felt very comfortable in the company that we were keeping there.”

As in past interviews with both Clayton and The Edge, Greene asks about the chance of a Zoo TV tour. The Edge says they haven’t “got to the point of doing anything more than this kind of talk” about ideas, but he wouldn’t rule out any ideas including the possibility of revisiting Zoo TV. The Edge says he loves the idea, and that he feels Zoo TV is very much an idea that could be adapted for the current world with the “24/7 news cycles” and “overload of cable TV and hundreds and hundreds of channels”.

The full interview with Rolling Stone can be read here.

In mid-October, Adam Clayton spoke about the new album progress with Rocky O’Riordan on SiriusXM, “We’re looking at going back into the studio and recording. We haven’t fixed anything. It feels like the right time now. It feels like we need to do another record.” It is known that the band did spend some time in studio in May in London, and it appears the work continues.

In that interview, Clayton cited issues that the Rolling Stones and Genesis were having in their current attempts to tour, and said “You know I think live, it’s not clear how that’s going to work.” He ended by saying that at this point they were not actively planning a tour, and would not even start to look at putting together touring plans “until next Spring anyway.”

From the most recent interviews there are no clear answers on what is next, or when it will happen, but the band are clear they are looking at new albums, new recordings, and expect to tour at some point. The band appears to currently be working on a new album of material, and may have pushed Songs of Ascent to the background for now. Both Adam and the Edge say no plans have been made for touring at this point, and if they have picked a tour concept, they aren’t revealing it, although the Edge wouldn’t rule out revisiting the Zoo TV concepts at some point. The band’s last tour wrapped up two years ago in December 2019 by visiting a number of countries they were playing for the first time ever including India, The Philippines, South Korea and Singapore.

We’ll continue to update our “Upcoming Releases“ section with any news about these and other projects.

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