U2 lost the plot decades ago – their new album finally fixes that

“We were once the greatest show on Earth,” sings Bono on U2’s latest single, the near-peak widescreen anthem, “The Greatest Show on Earth”. It is a line in keeping with the newly self-aware Bono, as found in his brilliant 2022 memoir Surrender, but is nonetheless a tacit admission that for all of the song’s positivity about love and faith fuelling a better future, the Irish band’s cultural relevance – for so long a given – has taken more than a few hits over recent years. Hence their first new album since 2017, the defiantly joyful Carnaval De Luz, seems tasked to answer the question: in their 50th year, can U2 restore themselves not just to greatness, but to their former prestige? There is no doubt that such ambitions remain. “I’m jealous when we’re left out of the pop charts,” Bono said recently, laughing off his drive as a character flaw for a 66-year-old rock singer in a world of pop superstars. But being the biggest and best has been ingrained in U2’s DNA since their formation at school in Dublin 1976, and old habits die hard, especially when you’ve had such dominant commercial peaks: The Joshua Tree (1987), Rattle and Hum (1988) and 1991’s Achtung Baby sold nearly 60 million between them. It is a tall order. U2 have successfully reinvented and revived before: the spiritual, roots music of The Joshua Tree; their 90s foray into European electronica and postmodernism with Achtung Baby and Zooropa; and 2000’s 12 million-selling All That You Can’t Leave Behind – one of the most successful back-to-basics albums in rock history.U2 members Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton, The Edge and Bono, pictured in 1980, came together at school in Dublin in 1978 (Photo: Virginia Turbett/ Redferns /Getty) But that was always from a position of relative strength. For all that Bono and co remain one of the world’s biggest rock bands – stadium fillers who were chosen to open the Sphere in Las Vegas on the grounds of their unfailingly brilliant and inventive shows – the past 20 years have been humbling. Three consecutive sub-par albums from 2009’s No Line on the Horizon through to companion pieces 2014’s Songs of Innocence and 2017’s Songs of Experience were creative dead ends: a confused mishmash of rock, unashamed auto-tuned pop and overthought experimentation that tried very hard – too hard – but never quite landed on an answer as to U2’s modern purpose. Most damning, the decision to team up with Apple and force Songs of Innocence on to everybody’s iTunes library proved reputationally catastrophic, Bono’s full and frank mea culpa in Surrender doing little to assuage the damage. Add in health problems for Bono, who had open heart surgery in 2016, and it didn’t seem certain U2 would properly return after 2023’s album of re-recorded hits, Songs of Surrender. Yet there has been a sense of renewal about U2 this year – no mean feat given they remain that rarest of bands who have managed to survive five decades with their original line-up (Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, drummer Larry Mullen.) Seeds of recovery were seen in a pair of EPs earlier this year. Days of Ash relit the righteous political rage of yore, addressing ICE killings, Ukraine and Palestine, while Easter Lily reflected the communal and religious side of U2. Days of Ash’s driving rocker “American Obituary” was their best track for many years. Bono and guitarist The Edge on stage in 1993 – U2 have repeatedly reinvented themselves over the decades (Photo: Koh Hasebe/ Shinko Music Getty) And there is no doubt that Carnaval De Luz is an album that has been precision-tooled in that eyes-on-the-prize U2 manner to restake their claim at the top table. These are big, confident, open-hearted songs of community, togetherness and healing, all done with a lightness of touch that rejects their more portentous tendencies, set to very recognisable U2 musical traits: choruses that soar, Bono’s heartfelt lyrics, The Edge’s guitar, which is at turns shimmering and forceful as only The Edge can sound. You can pinpoint the self-references: “Where the Streets Have no Name” in the very Joshua Tree-ish “Street of Dreams;” the tough riff of “La Reina” is very Achtung Baby; Brian Eno-assisted opener “Go” amalgamates their 90s electronic experimentation; the quiet-loud garage rock of “Silencio” is a song they’ve been writing for years now (“Elevation”, “Vertigo”, “Get on Your Boots”). But reconnecting with their essence has reaped rewards: Carnaval De Luz is by some distance their best record for 25 years. And given that Donald Trump – who cut aid funding that Bono fought previous US administrations to enact – has just been given a rousing defeat in the US midterms, the album’s overarching lyrical outlook of hope is impeccably of the moment. Closing track “Torn” features the last vocal recorded by Dolly Parton, its plea for both political and personal compassion – “nothing hurts a mother more/than a family at war” – both fitting and affecting. For the first time in years, U2’s music is chiming with the times. Of course, it wouldn’t be a U2 album without some prize Bono-isms, those over-reachers for profundity that come over as nonsense (“You and me are breaking news because the news can’t break us.). And not everything works. “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía),” dedicated to and literally about the 34-year-old Spanish superstar Rosalía, is a typically Bono-goes-too-far moment; the idea of an old rock star singing about a young female pop star, even in glowing terms, must have sounded better in his head. The album ‘Carnaval De Luz’ has very recognisable U2 musical traits: choruses that soar, Bono’s heartfelt lyrics, The Edge’s guitar (Photo: Viviane Sassen) But it is indicative of where U2 find themselves: while Bono is reduced to an awkward and slightly embarrassing tribute – “Do I have to sing on this?” was apparently Rosalía’s response – fellow Dubliners and heirs to U2’s crown Fontaines DC actually have her duetting on their album Dopamine Chamber, on the ballad “Where is Gone?”, the young pretenders usurping the masters. It adds to a sense that, from a commercial and general interest perspective, U2’s comeback has been solid rather than spectacular. For all of Carnaval De Luz’s many merits, there is little to stand up with their very best work, while there has certainly been no “Beautiful Day” moment, a unifying megahit on which their comeback can stand. And while Spotify streaming stats don’t tell the whole story, they have been underwhelming. Unlike Millennials, it appears Gen Z remain immune to U2’s charms. Yet, if the return of U2 is not the event it once was, that is not entirely their own fault. The monoculture in which U2 thrived has splintered, with rock music a casualty; pop in all its global forms now dominates and solo stars rule. A 50-year-old band making a very good album and going on what will no doubt be a dazzling stadium tour next year is much more than most bands of their vintage can manage. But whether that’s enough for Bono is open to question.