U2 have said they have some “amazing new songs” in the can, teasing that they will be “ready soon”.
The Irish group are currently a week into their spectacular residency at Las Vegas’ groundbreaking new venue, Sphere. Ahead of the first show last Friday (September 29) Bono and co. released a standalone single called ‘Atomic City’.
Now, the band have taken Zane Lowe on another behind-the-scenes tour of the Sphere in a video for Apple Music. During the conversation, Bono and The Edge spoke about what’s to come next for U2.
“Well, I think new music, new tunes,” the latter said. “There’s a lot that we have ready and some that need a little dusting off, but will be ready soon. I tell you, we’ve got some amazing new songs. Really exciting.”
Bono added: “Edge has about 100 in the bag. I have about 20… but [bassist] Adam [Clayton]’s got something to contribute.”
The frontman went on to explain that drummer Larry Mullen Jr – who is absent from the Vegas concerts due to various injuries – “will be sitting there going through the bag going, ‘Yeah, no, that’s shite. That’s shite. That’s shite. Is there anything here that isn’t shite?’”
Bono said U2 will eventually manage to “find 10” tracks that are up to scratch, telling Lowe “that’s all you need” for an album. “10. And that’s your reason to exist,” the singer continued.
“If not, U2 should just fuck off. Go live on an island, or go away and be a nuisance somewhere in the world. But if we want to continue as a band, it’s only about one thing. It’s about the text, it’s about the tunes, it’s about the performance. It’s about whether you believe us or not.
“And we have an extraordinary musical genius in our band. We will try, I will try, to put into words the music [The Edge is] making. I make it with him. But it’s Las Vegas or bust, baby.”
Bono went on: “The fight is for our future. It’s love versus luck. But that’s what our band is built around. It’s not just friendship. We overuse the word ‘love’ like The Beatles did. And you’re either… it’s like, ‘Whoa, back off’. Because it’s a lazy word to use unless it has meaning.
“And if it doesn’t have meaning within the band, then it’s not going to have meaning outside of the band. So this is the time when if people have lost their love, they should fuck off. Including me. You know what I mean? That’s what it is, right?
“And if you’re not falling in love with music… because music pays our bills. And if you don’t love music, it’s your time to fuck off.”
The Edge added: “The thing we’ve not forgotten is what a privilege it is to be standing on this stage, playing our songs in front of this audience. We take that hugely importantly. We don’t want to mess up. You don’t want to waste that opportunity.”
Earlier this year, the guitarist said U2 had “a lot of great material in the pipeline”. The comment came after Bono expressed his desire to release “a noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album”, citing AC/DC as an influence.
U2 dropped their latest album, ‘Songs Of Surrender’, back in March. The collection saw the group give 40 of their past tracks a “21st-century reimagining”. Their previous full-length record, ‘Songs Of Experience’, came out in 2017.
In a five-star review of U2’s opening night at the Sphere, NME hailed the show’s “breathtaking visuals” and “cinematic climax”. Writer Damian Jones concluded: “This is just the start of a stunning residency which will only continue to blossom with each passing night in this city of blinding lights.”
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