Bono and U2 are going small before they go big again. The band will play a one-off concert for the BBC in central London on Tuesday 3 November in front of a select crowd of fans. The venue is still a secret. Ticket holders will only find out where to go on the day of the show.
The gig was announced on Tuesday 27 October. It comes ten days before the release of Carnaval De Luz, U2’s 16th studio album, which is out on 13 November.
How fans can get in
There are only a few tickets, and they are given out by a ballot, so being quick online will not help. Entries close at midnight on Thursday 29 October. The winners are drawn at random.
The band will play songs from across their long career, plus new tracks from Carnaval De Luz.
When you can watch it
Most fans will see the show on TV or hear it on the radio. BBC Two will show the concert in late November, as part of a whole night of U2 programmes with new interviews with the four members. Radio 2 will play it on Monday 30 November from 7pm to 9pm UK time, on Jo Whiley’s show. After that it will stay online to stream.
Whiley was clearly happy about it. “Every time I see U2 perform, they’re always incredible,” she said on her show.
There is a bonus for radio fans too. The band also picked ten songs that shaped their lives for Vernon Kay’s Tracks of My Years, which goes online from 6am on Sunday 15 November.
A busy winter for U2
Carnaval De Luz is the band’s first full album of new songs since Songs of Experience in 2017. The single “The Greatest Show On Earth” is already out, and it also gives its name to the 2027 world tour. That tour opens in Mexico City in February, with Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires next on the list.
Before all that, U2 will also play at the NFL’s Thanksgiving Eve game on 25 November. So in less than a month the band goes from a small secret room in London to a holiday football show in America.
Our take
This is a smart way to launch a record. U2 have played stadiums for 40 years, and a tiny indoor show lets people hear the new songs up close, with Bono’s voice right at the front. It also gives the album a big push in the UK and Ireland in the week before it comes out.
The only sad part is the number of tickets. Thousands will try and very few will get in, so most of us will be watching at home in late November.
Would you enter the ballot for a secret U2 show, or do you prefer them in a big stadium? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Bono by Razvan Orendovici (CC BY 2.0), The Edge by iinchicore (CC BY-SA 4.0), U2 at Sphere by Jonathan Cook-Fisher (CC BY 2.0), Bono and The Edge in 1984 by Michael Richardson (CC BY-SA 4.0).