Formation and early years (1976–1980) (pictured in 2007) in Dublin. In 1976,
Larry Mullen Jr., then a 14-year-old pupil of
Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, Ireland, posted a note on the school's notice board in search of musicians for a new band. For the first practice, which was held on 25 September in Mullen's kitchen, Mullen played drums and was joined by at least five other people:
Paul Hewson ("Bono Vox") on lead vocals;
David Evans ("the Edge") and his older brother
Dik Evans on guitar;
Adam Clayton, a friend of the Evans brothers, on bass guitar; and Ivan McCormick. Mullen later described it as "'The Larry Mullen Band' for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge." Peter Martin, a friend of Mullen and McCormick, loaned his guitar and amplifier for the first practice, but he could not play and was quickly phased out; sources differ on whether he was in attendance at the first meeting or not. Within a few weeks, McCormick was also dropped from the group. The remaining five members settled on the name "Feedback" for the group because it was one of the few technical terms they knew. Early rehearsals took place in their music teacher's classroom at Mount Temple. The emergence of
punk rock, in particular the influence of acts such as
the Stranglers,
the Jam,
the Clash,
Buzzcocks, and
Sex Pistols, convinced them that musical proficiency was not a prerequisite to success. In April 1977, Feedback played their first gig for a paying audience at
St. Fintan's High School. Shortly thereafter, the band changed their name to "The Hype". Dik Evans, who was older and by that time attending college, was becoming the odd man out of the group. The other members were leaning towards the idea of a four-piece ensemble. In March 1978, the group changed their name to "U2", selecting it from a list of six options suggested by
Steve Averill, a punk rock musician with
the Radiators from Space and a family friend of Clayton. The band chose U2 for its open-ended interpretations, visual strength on posters, and because it was the name that they disliked the least. Dik Evans officially left the band with a farewell concert at the Presbyterian Hall in
Sutton on 4 March. During the show, which featured the group playing cover songs as the Hype, Dik ceremonially walked offstage. The remaining four members returned later in the concert to play original material as U2. Dik joined the
Virgin Prunes, a band made up of mutual friends of U2; early on, the Prunes served as U2's default
opening act, and the two groups often shared members for live performances to fill in for occasional absences. On 18 March, the four-piece U2 won the "Pop Group '78" talent contest sponsored by the
Evening Press and
Guinness's
Harp Lager as part of
Limerick Civic Week. The win was an important milestone and affirmation for the fledgling act. U2's demo tape was recorded at Keystone Studios in Dublin in April 1978, Irish magazine
Hot Press was influential in shaping U2's future; in addition to being one of their earliest allies, the publication's journalist
Bill Graham introduced the band to
Paul McGuinness, who agreed to be their
manager in mid-1978. With the connections he was making within the music industry, McGuinness booked demo sessions for the group and sought to garner them a record deal. The band continued to build their fanbase with performances across Ireland, the most famous of which were a series of weekend afternoon shows at Dublin's
Dandelion Market in mid-1979. In August 1979, U2 recorded demos at
Windmill Lane Studios with CBS talent scout
Chas de Whalley as producer, marking the first of the band's many recordings at the studio during their career. The following month, three songs from the session were released by CBS in Ireland as the EP
Three. It was the group's first chart success, selling all 1,000 copies of its limited edition 12-inch vinyl almost immediately. On 26 February 1980, their second single, "
Another Day", was released on the CBS label, again only for the Irish market. The same day, U2 performed at the 2,000-seat
National Stadium in Dublin as part of an Irish tour. Despite their gamble of booking a concert in such a large venue, the move paid off. The following month, the band signed a four-year, four-album contract with Island, which included a advance () and in tour support.
Boy and October (1980–1982) produced the band's first three studio albums:
Boy,
October, and
War. In May 1980, U2 released "
11 O'Clock Tick Tock", their first international single and their debut on Island, but it failed to chart. From July to September 1980, U2 recorded the album at Windmill Lane Studios, drawing from their nearly 40-song repertoire at the time. Lillywhite employed an experimental approach as producer, setting up Mullen's drums in a stairwell and recording
overdubs such as smashed bottles and cutlery skimmed against a spinning bicycle wheel.
Boy received generally positive reviews.
Paul Morley of
NME called it "touching, precocious, full of archaic and modernist conviction", while Declan Lynch of
Hot Press said he found it "almost impossible to react negatively to U2's music". Bono's lyrics reflected on adolescence, innocence, and the passage into adulthood, themes represented on the album cover by a closeup of an adolescent Peter Rowen, the younger brother of Bono's friend
Guggi. The album included the band's first songs to receive airplay on US radio, including the single "
I Will Follow",
Boys release was followed by the Boy Tour, U2's first tour of continental Europe and the US. Reviewing the band's early live performances, critics complimented their ambition and Bono's exuberance, and found the shows to be illustrative of U2's potential despite lacking polish. The band faced several challenges in writing their second album,
October. On an American leg of the Boy Tour, Bono's briefcase containing in-progress lyrics and musical ideas was lost backstage during a March 1981 performance at a nightclub in
Portland, Oregon. The band had limited time to write new music on tour and in July began a two-month recording session at Windmill Lane Studios largely unprepared, forcing Bono to quickly improvise lyrics.
Octobers lead single, "
Fire", was released in July and was U2's first song to chart in the UK. Despite earning the band an appearance on UK television programme
Top of the Pops, the single fell in the charts afterwards. Bono and the Edge considered quitting U2 due to their perceived spiritual conflicts before deciding to leave Shalom instead.
(centre) in February 1982
October was released in October 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. The album received mixed reviews and limited radio play. It debuted at number 11 in the UK, The single "
Gloria" was U2's first song to have its music video played on
MTV, generating excitement for the band during the
October Tour of 1981–1982 in markets where the television channel was available. During the tour, U2 met Dutch photographer
Anton Corbijn, who became their principal photographer and has had a major influence on their public image. In March 1982, the band played 14 dates as the opening act for
the J. Geils Band. U2 were disappointed by their lack of progress by the end of the October Tour. Having run out of money and feeling unsupported by their record label, the group committed to improving; Clayton recalled that "there was a firm resolve to come out of the box fighting with the next record". From September to November, the group recorded
War at Windmill Lane Studios. Lillywhite, who had a policy of not working with an artist more than twice, was convinced by the group to return as producer for a third time. The recording sessions featured contributions from violinist
Steve Wickham and the female singers of
Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
Wars lead single, "
New Year's Day", was released in January 1983. It reached number 10 in the UK and became the group's first hit outside Europe; in the US, it received extensive radio coverage and peaked at number 53. Resolving their doubts of the
October period, U2 released
War in February. It was the band's first commercial success, debuting at number one in the UK, while reaching number 12 in the US. Described as a record on which the band "turned pacifism itself into a crusade",
War was lyrically more political than their first two records, focusing on the physical and emotional effects of warfare.
War was U2's first record to feature Corbijn's photography. An adolescent Rowen was again featured on the album cover, with his previously innocent expression replaced by a fearful one. Bono attempted to engage the growing audiences with theatrical, often dangerous antics, climbing scaffolding and lighting rigs and jumping into the audience. The sight of Bono waving a white flag during performances of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became the tour's iconic image. The band played several dates at large European and American
music festivals, including a performance at the
US Festival on
Memorial Day weekend for an audience of 125,000 people. Nearly rained out, the group's 5 June 1983 concert at
Red Rocks Amphitheatre was singled out by
Rolling Stone as one of "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll". The show was recorded for the concert video
Live at Red Rocks, and was one of several concerts from the tour captured on their live album
Under a Blood Red Sky. The releases received extensive play on MTV and the radio, expanding the band's audience and showcasing their prowess as a live act. The War Tour was U2's first profitable tour, grossing about .
The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984–1985) With their record deal with Island Records coming to an end, U2 signed a more lucrative extension in 1984. They negotiated the return of the copyrights of their songs, an increase in their royalty rate, and a general improvement in terms, at the expense of a larger initial payment. Following the
War album and tour, U2 feared that they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering
arena-rock band". While they were confident that fans would embrace them as successors to groups like
the Who and
Led Zeppelin, according to Bono: "something just didn't feel right. We felt we had more dimension than just the next big anything, we had something unique to offer." They sought experimentation for their fourth studio album,
The Unforgettable Fire. Clayton said, "We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty." It was ambient and abstract, and featured a rich, orchestrated sound. Under Lanois' direction, Mullen's drumming became looser, funkier, and more subtle, and Clayton's bass became more subtle. Complementing the album's atmospheric sound, the lyrics were left open to interpretation, providing what the band called a "very visual feel". The album reached number one in the UK, and was successful in the US. The lead single "Pride (In the Name of Love)", written about
civil rights movement leader
Martin Luther King Jr., was their first song to chart in the US top 40. Much of
the Unforgettable Fire Tour moved into indoor arenas as U2 built their audience. The complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks, such as "
The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad", was hard to translate to live performances. In March 1985, a
Rolling Stone cover story called U2 the "Band of the '80s", saying that "for a growing number of rock & roll fans, U2... has become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters". before a crowd of 72,000 fans and a worldwide television audience of 1.5 billion people. During a 12-minute performance of "Bad", Bono climbed down from the stage to embrace and dance with a female fan he had picked out of the crowd, The performance was a pivotal event in the band's career;
The Guardian cited Live Aid as the moment that made stars of U2, and it included their performance on a list of 50 key events in rock history.
The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum (1986–1990) For their fifth album,
The Joshua Tree, the band wanted to build on
The Unforgettable Fires textures, but instead of experimentation, sought a harder-hitting sound within the limitation of conventional song structures. Realising that "U2 had no tradition" and that their knowledge of music from before their childhood was limited, the group delved into
American and
Irish roots music. Friendships with
Bob Dylan,
Van Morrison, and
Keith Richards motivated Bono to explore
blues,
folk, and
gospel music and to focus on his skills as a songwriter and lyricist. U2 halted the album sessions in June 1986 to play as a headline act on the
Conspiracy of Hope benefit concert tour for
Amnesty International. Rather than distract the band, the tour invigourated their new material. The following month, Bono travelled to
Nicaragua and
El Salvador and saw first-hand the distress of peasants affected by political conflicts and US military intervention. The experience became a central influence on their new music.
The Joshua Tree was released in March 1987. The album juxtaposes antipathy towards US foreign policy against the group's deep fascination with the country, its open spaces, freedom, and ideals. The band wanted music with a sense of location and a "cinematic" quality, and the record draws on imagery created by American writers whose works the band had been reading.
The Joshua Tree was critically acclaimed;
Robert Hilburn of the
Los Angeles Times said the album "confirms on record what this band has been slowly asserting for three years now on stage: U2 is what
the Rolling Stones ceased being years ago—the greatest rock and roll band in the world". The record went to number one in over 20 countries, including the UK where it received a
platinum certification in 48 hours and sold 235,000 copies in its first week, making it the fastest seller in British chart history at the time. In the US, it spent nine consecutive weeks at number one. The album included the hit singles "
With or Without You", "
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and "
Where the Streets Have No Name", the first two of which became the group's only number-one hits in the US. U2 became the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of
Time magazine, which called them "Rock's Hottest Ticket". The album and its songs received four
Grammy Award nominations, winning
Album of the Year and
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Many publications, including
Rolling Stone, have cited
The Joshua Tree as one of rock's greatest albums.
The Joshua Tree Tour was the first tour on which the band played shows in stadiums alongside smaller arena shows. It was the highest-grossing North American tour of the year with earned at the box office, and globally it grossed from 3.17 million tickets sold. In October 1988, the group released
Rattle and Hum, a double album and theatrically released documentary film that captured the band's experiences with American roots music on the Joshua Tree Tour. The record featured nine studio tracks and six live U2 performances, including recordings at
Sun Studio in
Memphis and collaborations with Dylan and
B.B. King. Intended as a tribute to American music, one
Rolling Stone editor spoke of the album's "excitement" and another described it as "misguided and bombastic". The film's director,
Phil Joanou, described it as "an overly pretentious look at U2". The film underperformed at the box office and was withdrawn from theatres after three weeks, having grossed only . Despite the criticism, the album sold 14 million copies and reached number one worldwide. Lead single "
Desire" became the band's first number-one song in the UK while reaching number three in the US. Most of the album's new material was played on 1989–1990's
Lovetown Tour, which visited Oceania, Japan, and Europe. They had grown dissatisfied with their live performances; Mullen recalled, "We were the biggest, but we weren't the best". With a sense of musical stagnation, Bono hinted at changes to come during a 30 December 1989 concert near the end of the tour; before a hometown crowd in Dublin, he said on stage that it was "the end of something for U2" and that they had to "go away and ... just dream it all up again".
Achtung Baby, Zoo TV, and Zooropa (1990–1993) Stung by the criticism of
Rattle and Hum, the band sought to transform themselves musically. Seeking inspiration from
German reunification, they began work on their seventh studio album,
Achtung Baby, at Berlin's
Hansa Studios in October 1990 with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. The sessions were fraught, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. Clayton and Mullen preferred a sound similar to U2's previous work; Bono and the Edge were inspired by European
industrial music and
electronic dance music and advocated a change. Weeks of tension and slow progress nearly prompted the group to break up until they made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "
One". They returned to Dublin in 1991, where morale improved and the majority of the album was completed.
Achtung Baby was released in November 1991. The album represented a calculated change in musical and thematic style, their most dramatic since
The Unforgettable Fire. Sonically, the record incorporated influences from
alternative rock, dance, and industrial music, and Bono referred to it as "four men chopping down the Joshua Tree". Thematically, it was a more introspective and personal record; it was darker, yet more flippant than the band's previous work. Commercially and critically, it has been one of the band's most successful albums. It produced five hit singles, including "
The Fly", "
Mysterious Ways", and "One", and was a crucial part of the band's early 1990s reinvention. In 1993,
Achtung Baby won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Like
The Joshua Tree, many publications have cited the record as one of rock's greatest. The stage featured large video screens that showed visual effects, random video clips from
pop culture, and flashing text phrases, along with a lighting system partially made of
Trabant cars. U2 were known for their earnest performances in the 1980s, but the Zoo TV performances were intentionally ironic and self-deprecating. the greedy
televangelist "Mirror Ball Man", and the devilish "MacPhisto". Prank phone calls were made to US President
George H. W. Bush, the
United Nations, and others. Live satellite link-ups to
war-torn Sarajevo caused controversy. Zoo TV was the highest-grossing North American tour of 1992, earning . In June 1993, U2 signed a six-album deal to remain with Island Records/
PolyGram. The
Los Angeles Times estimated that the deal was worth to the band, making them the highest-paid rock group ever. The following month, the group released a new album,
Zooropa. Quickly recorded during a break in the Zoo TV Tour in early 1993, it expanded on many of the themes from
Achtung Baby and the tour. Initially intended to be an
EP,
Zooropa evolved into a full-length
LP album. It delved further into
electronic, industrial, and dance music.
Country musician
Johnny Cash sang the lead vocals on the closing track "
The Wanderer". Most of the songs were played at least once during the 1993 legs of the tour, which visited Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan; half the album's tracks became long-term fixtures in the setlist.
Zooropa reached the top ten in 26 countries, sold 7 million copies, and won the 1994
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, but the band regard it with mixed feelings; the Edge called it "an interlude". Clayton's issues with alcohol came to a head on the final leg of the Zoo TV Tour. After experiencing a
blackout, Clayton was unable to perform for the group's 26 November 1993 show in Sydney, which served as the dress rehearsal for a
worldwide television broadcast the following night. Bass guitar technician Stuart Morgan filled in for him, the first time a member of U2 had missed a concert since their earliest days. After the incident, Clayton resolved to stop drinking alcohol. and in gross revenues.
Qs Tom Doyle said in 2002 that Zoo TV was "the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band".
Passengers, Pop, and PopMart (1994–1998) In 1995, following a long break, U2 contributed "
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" to the
soundtrack album of the film
Batman Forever. The song reached number one in Australia and Ireland, number two in the UK, and number 16 in the US. In November, the band released an
experimental album called
Original Soundtracks 1, a collaboration with Brian Eno, who contributed as a full songwriting partner and performer. Due to his participation and the record's experimental nature, the band released it under the moniker "Passengers" to distinguish it from U2's conventional albums. Mullen said of the release: "There's a thin line between interesting music and self-indulgence. We crossed it on the Passengers record." It was commercially unnoticed by U2 standards and it received mixed reviews. The single "
Miss Sarajevo" (featuring
Luciano Pavarotti) was among Bono's favourite U2 songs. U2 began work on their next studio album,
Pop, in mid-1995, holding recording sessions with
Nellee Hooper,
Flood, and
Howie B. The band mixed the contrasting influences of each producer into their music, in particular Howie B's experiences with electronica and dance music. Mullen was sidelined due to back surgery in November, prompting the other band members to take different approaches to songwriting, such as
programming drum
loops and playing to
samples provided by Howie B. The band allowed manager Paul McGuinness to book their 1997–1998
PopMart Tour with the album still in progress; Bono called it "the worst decision U2 ever made". Rushed to complete the album, the band delayed its release date a second time from late 1996 to March 1997, cutting into tour rehearsal time. Even with the additional recording time, U2 worked up to the last minute to complete songs. the group released
Pops lead single, "
Discothèque", a dance-heavy song with a music video in which the band wore
Village People costumes. The song reached number one in the UK, Japan, and Canada, but did not chart for long in the US despite debuting at number 10. The album represented U2's further exploration of
nightclub culture, featuring heavy, funky dance rhythms. The record drew favourable reviews.
Rolling Stone stated that U2 had "defied the odds and made some of the greatest music of their lives". Other critics felt that the album was a major disappointment. Despite debuting at number one in over 30 countries,
Pop dropped off the charts quickly. U2's "big shtick" failed to satisfy many who were seemingly confused by the band's new kitsch image and the tour's elaborate set. The reduced rehearsal time for the tour affected the quality of early shows, and in some US markets, the band played to half-empty stadiums. On several occasions, the mirrorball lemon from which the band emerged for the encores malfunctioned, trapping them inside. Despite the mixed reviews and difficulties of the tour, Bono considered PopMart to be "better than Zoo TV aesthetically, and as an art project it is a clearer thought." He later explained, "When that show worked, it was mindblowing." The group's 20 September 1997 show in
Reggio Emilia was attended by over 150,000 people, which was reported to have set a
world record for the largest paying audience for a one-act show. U2 also
performed in Sarajevo on 23 September, making them the first major group to stage a concert there following the
Bosnian War. Mullen described the show as "an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life, and if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, and have done that, I think it would have been worthwhile." Bono called the show "one of the toughest and one of the sweetest nights of my life." The tour concluded in March 1998 with gross revenues of and 3.98 million tickets sold. The following month, U2 appeared on the
200th episode of the animated sitcom
The Simpsons, in which
Homer Simpson disrupts the band on stage during a PopMart concert. In November 1998, U2 released their first compilation album,
The Best of 1980–1990, which featured a re-recording of a 1987 B-side, "
Sweetest Thing", as its single. The album broke a first-week sales record in the US for a greatest hits collection by a group, and "Sweetest Thing" topped the singles charts in Ireland and Canada. After their experiences with being pressured to complete
Pop, the band were content to work without deadlines. Released that October, ''All That You Can't Leave Behind'' was seen by critics as a "back to basics" album, on which the group returned to a more mainstream, conventional rock sound. For many of those not won over by the band's forays into dance music, it was considered a return to grace; The album debuted at number one in 32 countries and sold 12 million copies. Its lead single, "
Beautiful Day", reached number one in Ireland, the UK, Australia, and Canada, and number 21 in the US. The song won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal,
Song of the Year, and
Record of the Year. At the awards ceremony, Bono declared that U2 were "reapplying for the job ... [of] the best band in the world". The album's other singles, "
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "
Elevation", and "
Walk On", reached number one in Canada, and charted in the top five in the UK and top ten in Australia. The band's 2001
Elevation Tour started in March, visiting North America and Europe across three legs. For the tour, U2 performed on a scaled-down stage, returning to arenas after nearly a decade of stadium productions. a heart-shaped catwalk around the stage encircled many audience members, and
festival seating was offered in the US for the first time in the group's history. During the tour, U2 headlined two
Slane Concerts in Ireland, playing to crowds of 80,000. Following the
September 11 attacks in the US, ''All That You Can't Leave Behind
found added resonance with American audiences, as the album climbed in the charts and songs such as "Walk On" and "Peace on Earth" received radio airplay. In October, U2 performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first time since the attacks. Bono and the Edge said these shows were among their most memorable and emotional performances. The Elevation Tour was the top-earning North American tour of 2001 with a gross of , the second-highest amount ever at the time for a North American tour. Globally, it grossed from 2.18 million tickets sold, Spin'' named U2 the "Band of the Year" for 2001, saying they had "schooled bands half their age about what a rock show could really accomplish". On 3 February 2002, U2 performed during the
Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show. In a tribute to those who died in the 11 September attacks, the victims' names were projected onto a backdrop, and at the end, Bono opened his jacket to reveal an American flag in the lining.
Sports Illustrated,
Rolling Stone, and
USA Today ranked the band's performance as the best halftime show in Super Bowl history. Later that month, U2 received four additional Grammy Awards; ''All That You Can't Leave Behind
won Best Rock Album, while "Walk On" was named Record of the Year, the first time an artist had won the award in consecutive years for songs from the same album. In November 2002, the band released their second compilation, The Best of 1990–2000'', which featured several remixed 1990s songs and two new tracks, including the single "
Electrical Storm".
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Vertigo Tour (2003–2006) Looking for a harder-hitting rock sound than that of ''All That You Can't Leave Behind
, U2 began recording their eleventh studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'', in February 2003 with producer
Chris Thomas. After nine months of work, the band had an album's worth of material ready for release, but they were not satisfied with the results; Mullen said that the songs "had no magic". Lillywhite, along with his assistant
Jacknife Lee, spent six months with the band reworking songs and encouraging better performances. Bono acknowledged that the involvement of multiple producers affected the record's "sonic cohesion". Released in November 2004,
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb received favourable reviews from critics. The album featured lyrics touching on life, death, love, war, faith, and family. It reached number one in 30 countries, Overall, it sold 9 million copies globally. For the album's release, U2 partnered with
Apple for several cross-promotions: the first single, "
Vertigo", was featured in a television advertisement for the company's
iPod music player, while a U2-branded iPod and
digital box set exclusive to the
iTunes Store were released. "Vertigo" was an international hit, topping the charts in Ireland and the UK, and reaching number two in Canada and number five in Australia. The song won three Grammy Awards, including one for
Best Rock Song. Other singles from the album were also hits; "
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", written as a tribute to Bono's late father, went to number one in the UK and Canada, while "
City of Blinding Lights" reached number two in both regions. In March 2005, U2 were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by
Bruce Springsteen in their first year of eligibility. During his speech, Springsteen said the band had "beaten [the odds] by continuing to do their finest work and remaining at the top of their game and the charts for 25 years". , pictured in June 2005, featured a massive LED screen. U2's 2005–2006
Vertigo Tour was preceded by several complications. A sudden illness afflicting the Edge's daughter nearly resulted in the tour's cancellation, before the group decided to adjust the tour schedule to accommodate her treatment. Additionally, ticket presales on the band's website were plagued with issues, as subscribing members encountered technical glitches and limited ticket availability, partially due to
scalpers exploiting the system. Commencing in March 2005, The indoor stage replaced the heart-shaped ramp of the Elevation Tour with an elliptical one and featured retractable video curtains around the stage, while the stadium stage used a massive LED video screen. Setlists on tour varied more than in the group's past and included songs they had not played in decades. Like its predecessor, the Vertigo Tour was a commercial success, ranking as the top-earning tour of 2005 with grossed. on 21 October 2005 In February 2006, U2 received five additional Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", and Best Rock Album and Album of the Year for
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb; the awards made the album and its singles winners in all eight categories in which U2 were nominated, spanning two separate Grammy ceremonies. The group resumed the Vertigo Tour that month with a Latin American leg, It was released in theatres nearly two years later, and was the world's first live-action digital
3D film. which reached number one in Australia and throughout Europe. U2 issued an official autobiography,
U2 by U2, that month, The Vertigo Tour concluded in December, having sold 4.6 million tickets and having earned , the second-highest gross ever at the time. The Edge stated that businesses often seek to minimise their tax burdens. The band defended themselves, saying approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, that they were taxed globally because of this, and that they were all "personal investors and employers in the country". Bono later said, "I think U2's tax business is our own business and I think it is not just to the letter of the law but to the spirit of the law."
No Line on the Horizon and U2 360° Tour (2006–2011) Recording for U2's twelfth album,
No Line on the Horizon, began with producer
Rick Rubin in 2006, but the sessions were short-lived and the material was shelved. In May 2007, the group began new sessions with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in
Fez, Morocco, involving the producers as full songwriting partners. Intending to write "future hymns"—songs that would be played forever—the group spent two weeks recording in a
riad and exploring local music. The Edge called it "a very freeing experience" that "reminded [him] in many ways of early on and why [they] got into a band in the first place. Just that joy of playing." As recording on the album continued in New York, London, and Dublin, the band scaled back their experimental pursuits, which Eno said "sounded kind of synthetic" and were not easily married with the group's sound.
No Line on the Horizon was released in February 2009, more than four years after
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the longest gap between albums of the band's career to that point. It received generally positive reviews, including their first five-star
Rolling Stone review, but critics found it was not as experimental as originally billed. The album debuted at number one in over 30 countries, but its sales of 5 million were seen as a disappointment by U2 standards and it did not contain a hit single. Following the album's release, the band discussed tentative plans for a follow-up record entitled
Songs of Ascent. Bono described the project as "a more meditative album on the theme of pilgrimage". As part of the deal, the company assumed control over U2's touring, merchandising, and official website. The 360° Tour concerts featured the band playing stadiums "
in the round", allowing the audience to surround them on all sides. To accommodate the stage configuration, a large four-legged structure nicknamed "The Claw" was built above the stage, with the sound system and a cylindrical, expanding video screen on top of it. At tall, it was the largest stage ever constructed. The tour visited Europe and North America in 2009. On 25 October 2009, U2 set a new US record for single concert attendance for one headline act, performing to 97,014 people at the
Rose Bowl in Pasadena. In May 2010, while rehearsing for the next leg of the tour, Bono suffered a
herniated disk and severe compression of the
sciatic nerve, requiring emergency back surgery. The band were forced to postpone the North American leg of the tour and a headlining performance at the
Glastonbury Festival 2010 until the following year. After Bono's recovery, U2 resumed the 360° Tour in August 2010 with legs in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, during which they began to play new, unreleased songs live. By its conclusion in July 2011, U2 360° had set records for the
highest-grossing concert tour () and
most tickets sold for a tour (7.3 million).
Songs of Innocence and Innocence + Experience Tour (2011–2015) '' was announced in September 2014 Throughout the 360° Tour, the band worked on multiple projects, including a rock album produced by
Danger Mouse, a dance record produced by
RedOne and
will.i.am, and
Songs of Ascent. The latter was not completed to their satisfaction, and by December 2011, Clayton admitted it would not come to fruition. The sessions with Danger Mouse formed the foundation of U2's next album, and they worked with him until May 2013 before enlisting the help of producers
Paul Epworth,
Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney, and Flood. The band suspended work on the album late in 2013 to contribute a new song, "
Ordinary Love", to the film
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The track, written in honour of
Nelson Mandela, won the 2014
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In November 2013, U2's manager Paul McGuinness stepped down as part of a deal with Live Nation to acquire his management firm, Principle Management. McGuinness, who had managed the group for over 30 years, was succeeded by
Guy Oseary. In February 2014, the single "
Invisible", debuted in a
Super Bowl television advertisement and was made available in the iTunes Store at no cost to launch a partnership with
Product Red and
Bank of America to fight
AIDS. Bono called the track a "sneak preview" of their pending record. On 9 September 2014, U2 appeared at an Apple product launch event to make a
surprise announcement of their thirteenth studio album,
Songs of Innocence. They released it digitally the same day to all iTunes Store customers at no cost, making it available to over 500 million people in what Apple CEO
Tim Cook called "the largest album release of all time". Apple reportedly paid
Universal Music Group and U2 a lump sum for a five-week exclusivity period in which to distribute the album and spent on a promotional campaign. Bono described it as "the most personal album we've written". The record received mixed reviews and was criticised for its digital release strategy; it was automatically added to users' iTunes accounts, which for many, triggered an unprompted download to their electronic devices. Chris Richards of
The Washington Post called the release "rock-and-roll as dystopian junk mail". The group's press tour for the album was interrupted after Bono was seriously injured in a bicycle accident in
Central Park on 16 November 2014. He suffered fractures of his shoulder blade,
humerus,
orbit, and pinky finger, leading to uncertainty that he would ever be able to play guitar again. . Following Bono's recuperation, U2 embarked on the
Innocence + Experience Tour in May 2015, visiting arenas in North America and Europe from May to December. The group structured their concerts around a loose autobiographical narrative of "innocence" passing into "experience", with a fixed set of songs for the first half of each show and a varying second half, separated by an intermission—a first for U2 concerts. The stage spanned the length of the venue floor and had three sections: a rectangular main stage, a smaller circular
B-stage, and a connecting walkway. U2's sound system was moved to the venue ceilings and arranged in an oval array to improve the sound. The final date of the tour, one of two Paris shows rescheduled due to the
13 November 2015 attacks in the city, was filmed for the video
Innocence + Experience: Live in Paris and broadcast on the American television network
HBO.
The Joshua Tree anniversary tours and Songs of Experience (2016–2019) In 2016, U2 worked on their next studio album,
Songs of Experience, a
companion piece to
Songs of Innocence. The group had mostly completed the album and planned to release it that year, but after the shift of global politics in a
conservative direction, highlighted by the UK's
Brexit referendum and the
2016 US presidential election, they put the record on hold to reassess its tone. The group spent the extra time rewriting lyrics,
rearranging and remixing songs, and pursuing different production styles. Further impacting the lyrical direction of the album was a "brush with mortality" that Bono experienced; in December 2016, he underwent
open-heart surgery due to an
aortic aneurysm that formed over time as a result of having a
bicuspid aortic valve. commemorated the 30th anniversary of the eponymous record. It was the highest-grossing tour of the year, earning . U2
toured in 2017 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of
The Joshua Tree, with each show featuring a performance of the entire album. It was the first time the group toured in promotion of an album from their back catalogue. The Edge cited the same world events that caused the group to delay
Songs of Experience for what he judged to be renewed resonance of
The Joshua Trees subject matter and a reason to revisit it. that was, according to
The Guardian, the largest and highest resolution screen used on a concert tour. The tour included a headlining appearance at the
Bonnaroo Music Festival in June. The tour grossed more than from over 2.7 million tickets sold, making it the highest-grossing tour of the year.
Songs of Experience was released on 1 December 2017. Lyrically, the album reflects the "political and personal apocalypse" that Bono felt in 2016. The first single, "
You're the Best Thing About Me", is one of several songs from the record for which Bono wrote the lyrics as letters addressed to people and places closest to his heart. it was the sixth-best-selling album globally in 2017 with 1.3 million copies sold. , a sequel to their 2015 tour In May 2018, the band embarked on the Experience + Innocence Tour, which consisted of arena shows across North America and Europe. It was a sequel to their 2015 Innocence + Experience Tour, reprising its loose narrative and using a similar stage set. Several enhancements were made, such as a higher resolution and more transparent video screen and the addition of LED panels to the B-stage floor. The band incorporated
augmented reality into the shows, releasing a mobile app for concertgoers to use and reviving Bono's demonic stage character MacPhisto from the 1993 Zoo TV Tour with the help of a camera
filter. The tour concluded in Berlin in November with total revenues of from 924,000 tickets sold, according to
Billboard. and their first time performing in South Korea, Singapore, India, and the Philippines. The band released the single "Ahimsa" with Indian musician
A.R. Rahman to promote their December concert in India. The group's 2019 shows grossed and sold 567,000 tickets, bringing the cumulative totals for their
Joshua Tree anniversary tours to grossed and 3.3 million tickets sold.
Songs of Surrender and concert residency at Sphere (2020–2025) Over a two-year period during
lockdowns for the
COVID-19 pandemic, the group worked on
Songs of Surrender, an album of re-recorded and reinterpreted versions of 40 songs from their back catalogue. Largely the effort of the Edge and Bono, the album was recorded with collaborators that included
Bob Ezrin, Duncan Stewart, Declan Gaffney, and
Stjepan Hauser. The reimagined songs feature stripped-down and acoustic
arrangements, in different keys and tempos and often with re-written lyrics. The project was conceived as a companion to Bono's memoir
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. After releasing his memoir in November 2022, Bono embarked on a
book tour that month called "Stories of Surrender", initially consisting of 14 dates across North America and Europe. During the shows, Bono performed U2 songs in stripped-down arrangements mirroring those from
Songs of Surrender. The record was released in March 2023. It was the group's first number-one album in the UK since 2009, but sales quickly tapered off; it charted in the UK for three weeks, and in the US for one week after reaching number five. The album's release coincided with a television documentary film,
Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, With Dave Letterman, that premiered on
Disney+. In April, Bono resumed his "Stories of Surrender" book tour with an 11-show
residency at the
Beacon Theatre in New York City. , as part of
a 40-date concert residency to inaugurate the venue From September 2023 to March 2024, U2 staged a 40-date concert residency called
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live to inaugurate
Sphere in the Las Vegas Valley. The residency was announced during a
Super Bowl LVII television advertisement. Performances were focused on the group's 1991 album
Achtung Baby and leveraged the venue's immersive video and sound capabilities, which include a
16K resolution wraparound LED screen and speakers with
beamforming and
wave field synthesis technologies. Mullen did not participate in the concerts in order to recuperate from surgery, marking the first time since 1978 that U2 performed without him; Dutch drummer
Bram van den Berg from the band
Krezip filled in. U2:UV
Achtung Baby Live was highly acclaimed by critics;
Rolling Stones Andy Greene called it "a quantum leap forward for concerts", and
Neil McCormick of
The Telegraph said it would "change live entertainment forever". The residency grossed from 663,000 tickets sold, making it the
fourth-highest-grossing concert residency of all time. It was filmed for the immersive concert film
V-U2, which began screening exclusively at Sphere in September 2024.
Days of Ash and Easter Lily EPs (2026–present) On 18 February 2026, U2
surprise released a six-track EP,
Days of Ash, and confirmed that a full-length studio album would be released in 2026. A month and a half later, the group followed it up with the surprise release of another six-track EP,
Easter Lily, on 3 April 2026. == Musical style ==