U2

U2 Embarks on World Tour – Two Concerts at Strawberry Arena

The rumors are true. Next spring, U2 will return to Sweden for the first time since 2015, with two arena concerts on April 26 and 28, 2027, at Strawberry Arena in Stockholm. These will be the band’s only performances in the Nordic region and the first stop on the European leg of their world tour.

Special guests: Wolf Alice.

Tickets go on sale Friday, November 6, at 10:00 AM.

Today, U2 has announced the European dates for their world tour, Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth. The tour sees Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. returning to select arenas throughout 2027 and beyond. The European leg begins in Stockholm on April 26—with Wolf Alice as the opening act—before continuing across Europe.

U2 recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with a lunchtime concert for students and teachers at their former school, Mount Temple Comprehensive, as well as a surprise performance on Grafton Street in Dublin. “'The Greatest Show on Earth'? Now that's a throwdown. It's a dare, to ourselves as much as anyone, to try and have the best night of anybody's life. A bit of showman, a bit of shaman, a riot of colour, unreasonable guitar, bass and drums, and tunes you can hold onto. Because if people are gonna show up, we certainly are.” – Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry.

With the Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth world tour, U2 returns to the arena stage with a spectacle that celebrates human connection and intimacy. The setlist spans the band’s entire catalog. These will be the band’s first arena concerts since the acclaimed The Joshua Tree Tour, during which U2 played for nearly 3 million fans worldwide.

About U2:

U2 was formed in Dublin in 1976. The band has toured the globe countless times, released 15 studio albums, and sold 175 million albums. U2 has received numerous awards, including 22 Grammys and Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and has been nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Original Song: in 2003 for “The Hands That Built America” from Gangs of New York, and in 2014 for “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. U2’s fourteenth studio album, Songs of Experience, is a companion piece to 2014’s Songs of Innocence. Released in December 2017, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making U2 the only band in history to top the chart across four consecutive decades.

In 2018, U2 embarked on the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour—an arena production in which the band continued to push the creative boundaries of technology and engineering. The previous year, in 2017, the band undertook the acclaimed The Joshua Tree Tour, a record-breaking success that celebrated their landmark 1987 album, The Joshua Tree. This tour subsequently took U2 to New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, and—for the very first time—brought “the biggest band in the world” (The Guardian) to Singapore, Seoul, Manila, and Mumbai. 

In November 2019, the band released the song “Ahimsa” in collaboration with A.R. Rahman, which was performed live at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Mumbai. In 2020, SiriusXM and U2 launched the channel U2 X-Radio, offering a deep dive into the work and influences of the band from Dublin’s Northside—all curated by U2. Songs of Surrender was released on March 17, 2023. It is a collection of 40 of U2’s most significant songs from across their entire catalog, newly recorded and reinterpreted for 2023 during sessions held over the preceding two years. The album topped charts worldwide, including in the UK and Ireland.

The brand-new EP Days of Ash was released on February 18, 2026. It contains six tracks—five new songs and one poem—that form a cohesive whole: “American Obituary,” “The Tears of Things,” “Song of the Future,” “Wildpeace,” “One Life at a Time,” and “Yours Eternally” (feat. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia). These tracks emerged as a direct response to current events and were inspired by the many extraordinary, courageous individuals fighting on the front lines for freedom. 

A second, standalone six-track EP, Easter Lily, was released on Good Friday of this year. It is notably more contemplative, featuring songs that stem from a more personal, private space—a place of retreat for times such as these. The songs explore friendship, loss, hope, and, ultimately, renewal. Carnaval de Luz is U2’s sixteenth studio album and the band’s first collection of new material in nine years. It is set for release on November 13, 2026, via Island Records.

About Carnaval De Luz:

Carnaval De Luz was recorded in various locations and produced by Jacknife Lee. The album consists of 12 tracks that explore themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom, and resilience. Its sound captures the spirit of the band’s most experimental work, blended with classic songwriting—evident in tracks like "The Greatest Show On Earth," "Glorify," and "Midnight Sunshine." Also featured is "Silencio," a two-minute-and-35-second homage to early surf-punk. 

The roots of Carnaval De Luz first took hold during the creation of two critically acclaimed U2 EPs released in early 2026; these were recorded during the same period as the new album. The EPs— Days of Ash and Easter Lily—follow the liturgical calendar, with Carnaval De Luz positioned earlier in that timeline. A "carnival"—derived from carne (flesh)—serves as a celebration preceding the season of Lent, marking a period of reflection that leads toward the rebirth of Easter. The song that bridges the album and the two EPs is the final track, "Torn." It is a duet between Bono and the late, extraordinary Dolly Parton—which, poignantly, turned out to be her final vocal recording. Written by U2, Parton, and Johnny McDaid, the track is a tender country song about fractured family ties, carrying a broader, deeper significance.

Carnaval De Luz is being released during the band’s 50th anniversary year, 2026—a year in which U2 will have released a total of 24 new songs. The album also features collaborations with Brian Eno (co-writer and synths on 'Go (Carnaval De Luz)', ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’, and 'Can't Stop Us Now'), Martin Garrix (co-writer on 'Glorify'), and Daniel Lanois (pedal steel on 'Torn').