U2 are aiming for the World Cup for their new single

U2 are preparing their “real” recording comeback, after the two surprise EPs in recent weeks. And they could use the World Cup as a springboard. According to rumors circulating in circles close to the band and reported by the reliable website U2songs, some of the new material could debut on June 11th in Mexico City, on the occasion of the opening match of the FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the group has already begun to reveal the first details of the project, sharing on social media a preview of “Street of Dreams”, a new song intended to anticipate the next studio album, the first of the unreleased songs from “Songs of Experience”

These fragments are just the tip of the iceberg: Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. spent a week in Mexico to work on the album launch campaign, expected in the autumn, in the period of the band’s 50th anniversary. The most visible moment was the outdoor set at Plaza de Santo Domingo, in central Mexico City, where U2 filmed the music video for “Street of Dreams” playing on the roof of a school bus decorated with graffiti by local artist Chavis Mármol, in front of hundreds of fans. The filming was interrupted by a storm, with the band improvising a mini concert: thanks to the hospitality of a local resident, the band moved to a balcony to perform “Desire”, “Vertigo”, “Angel of Harlem” and “In A Little While” acoustically together with the fans left in the rain.

Filming then continued on the city streets and at the Salón Los Angeles, a historic venue in the Mexican capital. On that occasion Bono also leaked the title of a second unreleased song, “Silencio”, a possible other song from the new album. The stay in Mexico also included public activities: the band met the mayor of Mexico City Carla Brugada, who invited U2 to perform at the Zócalo, while Bono mentioned the possibility of starting the next tour from Mexico. Already in recent weeks, word had leaked out that the band’s tour, scheduled for 2027, could start from Latin America.
Bono and The Edge also participated in the final events of the Street Child World Cup, a tournament dedicated to young people living in marginal conditions, in the presence of the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, before the other members of the group also joined the final day.

“Street of Dreams” arrives after a particularly intense period for the band, who in recent weeks released the “Easter Lily” EP, the follow-up to the “Days of Ash” project. Both EPs, however, were presented as almost non-programme responses to international current affairs, and in any case it was underlined that a “real” album would arrive later, suggesting that there would be a more “traditional” and less “surprising” launch strategy. Bono spoke about the album in Propaganda, the band’s historic fanzine which was published again for “Days of ash” and “Easter Lily”:

We’re in the studio, still working on a loud, chaotic and ‘unreasonably colourful’ album to be played LIVE… which is the true spirit of U2. We continue to see bubbly rock and roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness we see on our small screens. These are certainly ‘desert’ years for many of us, faced with the chaos that reigns in the world.
We’ll try to organize something bigger and more lavish in the future to remind the rest of the world that we exist, but in the meantime… this remains between us and you.

As already reported, there is also talk of a tour for 2027 with dates in stadiums, including Italian ones: stadiums have already been optioned in various cities in our country, in the UK and Germany, as well as 4 dates in Croke Parke, Dublin. Also according to U2songs, the tour should continue until 2028 inclusive.