The Jacks are back.
U2 dropped The Greatest Show On Earth yesterday, third single off Carnaval De Luz, their sixteenth album, out 13 November on Island. And while they were at it, they announced a world tour: Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth, their first stadium run since The Joshua Tree wrapped in 2019.
It kicks off in Latin America in February, with Beck in support: Mexico City, São Paulo and Buenos Aires, two nights each. Europe and North America are coming soon. Presale for U2.com subscribers opens Monday 19 October, general sale Thursday 22 October.
Then there’s the artwork.
They dressed up a graveyard like a funfair. Rusting neon signs dumped in the desert at dusk, the title lit up in every colour going, and a big red arrow announcing Carnaval De Luz presents, like the circus just rolled into town.
Look closer and it’s a neon cemetery of every tour they’ve ever done: the PopMart lemon, a Joshua tree still half working, the Elevation suitcase, our beloved Zoo baby, even the lightbulb from the Innocence + Experience tour.
And above all of it — if I’m reading it right — MacPhisto, still in perfect working order (unfortunately, when you know what he stands for), peering down at the rest. Right across the diagonal from him, in the opposite corner, the U2 sign, burning bright. Up against the evils of this world since forever.
Still there.
Now, the song.
It had me in tears on first listen, and that doesn’t happen very often.
This might be one of the best songs they’ve ever written. It’s U2 101: less than thirty seconds in and you already know this is going to be big U2. The lyrics are gorgeous, and one more proof of the exceptional craftsmanship of this band.
When you’re a fan, some of those words sound like echoes of things they’ve been saying their whole career, and that makes it hit even harder. But I talked about it with someone who had never listened to U2, and their reaction was it’s getting to me and I don’t know anything about those guys. So yes. It works.
And in true U2 tradition, the first listen tells you it’s about one thing. The second, something else. Then a third. Layers on layers that can mean everything and anything at once. Is it about them? The world? Ali? Nobody knows — and that’s exactly what makes it so poignant, and why it speaks to everyone.
The Greatest Show On Earth is U2 doing what U2 does best, and I’m not okay. But I sure will be.
It’s good to have you back, lads.
See u on the road somewhere.
