U2 marked the 50th anniversary of their formation on September 25 by returning to Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin for a surprise performance and treating fans to an impromptu balcony gig on Grafton Street. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. retraced their roots five decades after Mullen posted a notice on a school bulletin board seeking musicians.
Returning to Mount Temple Comprehensive School
The band members performed at their former Dublin school on Friday, September 25, exactly 50 years after teenagers first gathered at Mullen’s northside home following the original notice board post. Reflecting on the homecoming, The Edge admitted to RTÉ Radio 1 host Brendan O’Connor that he felt unexpected anxiety before taking the stage. “I was actually quite nervous which I wasn’t expecting because as I said to the lads before we went on, since no one has paid in, they can’t ask for their money back so we’ve actually nothing to worry about,” The Edge said. “Midway through ‘I Will Follow’ I just went ‘this is amazing!’.”
Mullen expressed a different sentiment, noting that he felt happy rather than anxious about the milestone. “I wasn’t nervous, I was really happy to be there. It was just a great experience,” Mullen said. “We’ve been trying for 50 years to get the band to downsize so we could do something like that, so we measured the stage about 50 years ago and said ‘we have to get back to that’.”
Clayton shared memories of joining the school from a private institution, describing the transition as a positive change. “I came in from private school and went to Mount Temple as a form of punishment,” Clayton said. “But before I’d gone to Mount Temple I’d always decided I wanted to have a career in music, and Mount Temple had a great history of choirs and musical stuff, so when I arrived at the school I couldn’t believe that you could wear your own clothes, that the teachers treated you respectfully, and that when we said we wanted to start a band they said ‘well, you can use one of the classrooms to rehearse in!’”
Surprise Grafton Street Performance and Commemorative Coin
Alongside the school visit, the band received a new €2 commemorative coin issued in honor of their golden anniversary. On Friday, U2 staged a surprise performance from the balcony of Bewley’s on Dublin’s Grafton Street, drawing a crowd of nearly 5,000 people.
Bono compared the atmosphere of the impromptu street concert to a major athletic victory. “It feels for us like winning the World Cup to come home and to have a scene like that on Grafton Street,” Bono said, expressing gratitude to the city and the guards for accommodating the last-minute event. “We’re not the band you’d expect to come out of Ireland, let alone the north side of Dublin, just on the accents, the backgrounds, the mixed up religiosity of it all. Yet, I think we were a clue to an Ireland that was coming which wasn’t just defined by the old ways.”
Upcoming Album Release Plans
The anniversary events coincide with a major career announcement from the band. U2 revealed details for Carnaval De Luz, their first album of brand-new material in nine years, which is scheduled for release on November 13.