Back in 2014, U2 stirred up the Internet with their free surprise release, Songs of Innocence. The album was “gifted” by Apple and automatically put in the cloud for all users of iTunes worldwide. There was a huge backlash towards the group for being presumptuous and a “cloud” of distrust among even diehard Apple loyalists over what users felt was an unwanted, albeit free, invasion.
“Oops,” Bono acknowledged. “I’m sorry about that. This beautiful idea, we kind of got carried away with it.”
Enough fans got over the “intrusion”: the band went on to fill venues on their 2015 iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour, with estimated global ticket sales in excess of $150 million.
Since then, the iconic band has been teasing audiences with a follow up album. Fans had hoped the album, presumably to be called Songs of Experience, would be issued in time for the tour or during, being part of a series that could also include the scrapped Songs of Ascent one day. However Bono publicly revealed that year that the sister album would not be available until 2016.
Now in a new interview with Billboard, the band’s guitarist, The Edge, talked about the timetable for the new album. “We are still busting our ass to try to get it out this year. That’s our plan right now and exactly when, we’re not sure. Now a U2 album plan has been known to be revised (laughs). This is the working assumption. This is our ambition. It could change, but we’re really doing our best to get it out this year.” The Edge also said earlier this year that they had worked on 50 pieces of music for the new record.
Back in March, The Edge told Rolling Stone that U2 hoped to be back on tour “sooner rather than later.” When asked about the time frame, he replied: “That statement still holds true. Short of announcing the plan, which I can’t right now, we’re still on target to get out there sooner rather than later.”
Related: Live review… U2 soars to the rafters in Boston
Couldn’t see the tour live? Don’t worry, you can still catch U2’s recently released final performance of the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download. iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Live in Paris, runs about 2.5 hours, and includes guest performances by Eagles of Death Metal and Patti Smith and pays tribute to the victims of the November terrorist attacks.
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