The Edge has hinted that new material will be released “very soon.” U2 will appear. And that the band is planning to organize some concerts.
The U2 guitarist announced this in the podcast “Sodajerker on Songwriting”. At first, Edge only talked about a new single, not a new U2 album. But after “Atomic City” from the year before last, he knows that fans will probably no longer be satisfied with single-only releases. The last U2 album with new songs, “Songs of Experience”, was released in 2017, almost eight years ago.
Edge: “There could be a new song coming very soon that you will hear about. I can’t say anything more about it. We are in great shape creatively.”
Apparently the new songs were created with the ulterior motive of a new solo album. “I tricked myself. I was like, ‘Okay, this is for The Edge’s solo album, so I can’t leave these things half-finished. It doesn’t have to be finished texts, but it really has to fit together. And that extra discipline, I think, was very useful,” he said.
“I don’t think it will be a heavy rock album”
He continued: “I’ve been working on so much material, and now that we’re doing some U2 sessions with this material, it looks like it’s paying off. We may change it a lot, but we won’t waste our time on an idea that would never work.'”
At the latest here it is time to listen up. U2 are known for making “strong changes” to the song and allowing a certain amount of time to pass until the material meets their requirements. “Songs of Experience” was actually supposed to follow the “Songs of Innocence” album from 2014 a little later. And then it took three years. Also because singer Bono repeatedly extended his antennae to incorporate political trends – the unexpected election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 – into his work.
Of course, the December 2024 reissue of “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” also included “new songs”. Pieces like “Happiness,” for example, that didn’t make it onto the 2004 album.
Regarding live plans, The Edge said: “We’re hoping to play some shows. We did the tour in Vegas, which was amazing, but we didn’t see much of the world. We look forward to meeting our fans where they live, rather than the other way around.”
Speaking about the style of U2’s new album, the guitarist said: “I guess we’re in the great honeymoon phase where there’s a lot of experimentation and we’re exploring all sorts of musical topics. I think the guitar will be a big part of the next record. But I don’t think it will be a heavy rock album. I think it will be a very different way of using the guitar, not just a rock thing.”