U2 posted a holiday greeting on their Facebook page to reveal that their fans can expect a tour and new album in 2017. The LP, titled Songs of Experience, will be the follow-up to 2014’s Songs of Innocence. The tour will be their first since their 2015 Innocence + Experience tour that culminated on Dec. 7 with an emotional performance in Paris, France following the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks there.
In the message, Bono says: “Next year’s gonna be a big one for the U2 group. We have Songs of Experience coming and, to honor 30 years of The Joshua Tree, we have some very special shows coming.”
Watch the entire message below…
Happy Christmas
Posted by U2 on Sunday, December 25, 2016
Billboard reports that the group’s 2017 dates will include a headlining performance at Bonnaroo which takes place June 8-11 in Manchester, TN. The publication also mentions two concerts at New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium.
Songs of Innocence unintentionally earned the wrath of millions when it unexpectedly showed up in iTunes libraries as a “gift.” The Irish band’s guerrilla marketing tactic backfired when Apple users felt their privacy settings had been violated. (Apple has a page on its support site with step-by-step instructions on how to remove the album from your iTunes library.) U2 subsequently apologized for the gaffe.
The album was subsequently released via more traditional methods but it failed to sell in quantities that the band was accustomed to. Though the collection failed to connect with listeners, the group’s 2015 Innocence + Experience tour was a huge success.
Related: U2 “soars to the rafters” in July 2015 concert in Boston
1987’s The Joshua Tree was the group’s fifth studio album, taking them to a whole new level of success with the classic rock hits. Prior to the LP, U2’s highest-charting single in the U.S. was “Pride (In the Name of Love),” which reached #33. Each of the new album’s first two singles, “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” were #1 chart hits. The follow-up, “Where the Streets Have No Name,” reached #13. The album also includes “Bullet the Blue Sky.”
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