U2 Celebrate 50th Anniversary With Surprise Concert on Dublin’s Grafton Street
- Thousands of fans flooded Dublin’s Grafton Street on Friday evening, as U2 delivered a surprise live performance from the balcony of Bewley’s Oriental Cafe to celebrate the band’s...
- Earlier on Friday, the band returned to Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where drummer Larry Mullen had famously pinned a note five decades prior seeking to form a group.
- By late afternoon on Friday, rumors of a pop-up gig materialized into four large speakers blaring outside Bewley’s Cafe.
Thousands of fans flooded Dublin’s Grafton Street on Friday evening, as U2 delivered a surprise live performance from the balcony of Bewley’s Oriental Cafe to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary. the milestone coincides with the rollout of the group’s 16th studio album, Carnaval De Luz, which features a cross-genre duet between Bono and Dolly Parton.
A Homecoming Half a Century in the Making
Earlier on Friday, the band returned to Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where drummer Larry Mullen had famously pinned a note five decades prior seeking to form a group. A crowd of hundreds of students along with global press corps looked on as the band members performed a 30-minute set close to the institution’s boiler house, channeling the raw spirit of their earliest days.
Grafton Street Gridlock and Global Pilgrims
By late afternoon on Friday, rumors of a pop-up gig materialized into four large speakers blaring outside Bewley’s Cafe. A massive throng choked the thoroughfare, reducing the street to a standstill where strained security personnel fought to keep narrow paths open for blocked commuters and delivery riders. Charlie O’Neill, a 69-year-old street photographer living in Santry, noted the severe congestion, estimating it took him seven or eight minutes to walk 10 yards.
I’m very proud that they’re Irish and the way they’re blazed the trail.
Charlie O’Neill
International fans made the rock’n’roll pilgrimage to the Irish capital for the weekend. The attendees included Craig Molloy, hailing from Derbyshire in England—who had previously popped the question to his partner Stacey during the band’s 2017 show at the 3Arena—alongside Tilles Tijmes speaking for the Flanders U2 fan club. Michigan residents Todd and Lara Garrison-Gebhart made the trip by air, sustaining a dedication that goes back to the 1987 launch of The Joshua Tree. Emer Bolger travelled from Co Carlow with her six-year-old son, noting she has attended every tour since 1987 aside from the Zoo TV tour.
Album Promotion and Production Background
U2’s 16th studio album, Carnaval De Luz, is being promoted heavily through these unannounced gigs. Archyde reports that the new record marks their first collection of fresh material since 2017’s Songs Of Surrender.
