Two months after teasing their new song with a video shoot on a crowded street in Mexico City, U2 have dropped “Street of Dreams,” the leadoff single from their upcoming studio album, slated for release before the end of the year. The joyful, anthemic song was produced by their longtime collaborator Jacknife Lee.
The “Street of Dreams” video was shot when the band were in Mexico City to attend the Street Child World Cup Finals Tournament at Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco. They filmed near the Plaza Santo Domingo in the middle of a rainstorm, and were invited onto an apartment balcony by a family after the band’s generator failed in the rain.
U2 have yet to announce the title for their new album, but it’ll be their first proper LP of new songs since 2017’s Songs of Experience. In the years that followed, U2 played arenas across North America and Europe, brought their Joshua Tree 30 tour to overseas markets, cut stripped-down versions of their classic songs on the 2023 LP Songs of Surrender, and became the first band to perform at Sphere in Las Vegas. Earlier this year, they also shared two six-song EPs, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, that dealt with weighty matters of politics and spiritual renewal.
When they released Easter Lily in April, Bono told fans that the upcoming album would strike a different tone. “We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colorful’ album to play LIVE … which is where U2 lives,” he said. “We still look to vivid rock & roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens.”
U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. sat out the Sphere residency as he recovered from neck surgery. But he returned for the sessions that produced the two EPs, and the upcoming album. “I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t easy missing the Sphere residency through injury,” Mullen said in February. “But I ignored my symptoms over a few years and just pushed through. Turns out I’m not invincible, and when you don’t listen to your body the consequences are inevitable.”
There has been no talk in public of a tour, but U2 have never once released an album they didn’t support with shows all across the planet. They would mark Larry Mullen Jr.’s first time playing live with the band since 2019.
In late September, U2 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their formation. They’re essentially the only major band from that time that’s kept its original lineup completely intact.
