Entertainment25 September, 20262 min read
U2 Returns to Mount Temple Comprehensive in Dublin for 50th Anniversary Surprise Concert
16outlets comparedWhere the coverage agrees
8 Other5 Western Mainstream3 Western AlternativeThis article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
U2 staged a surprise concert at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. The schoolyard/courtyard performance drew about 1,000 students and staff.
Save coverage image
16 outlets in this story. Read their headlines below.
Surprise at Mount Temple
U2 returned to Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin for a surprise concert on Friday, September 25, 2026, marking 50 years since the band members first started playing together there. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. reunited with the school stage where Larry Mullen Jr. posted an ad on the school bulletin board in 1976 seeking musicians to form a band. Bono declared, "We've escaped from the lab," as the quartet took to a stage in the playground.
U2’s set included hits like I Will Follow, Vertigo and With Or Without You, as well as their latest single, Silencio. The concert took place in front of hundreds of students, who were surprised when the music started inside the school facilities, according to Audiorama Comunicaciones.
Setlist and student welcome
U2 played a schoolyard concert for 1,000 students and staff at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, with the show staged at the same spot where the band first performed together more than five decades ago.
Consequence of Sound said U2’s 50th-anniversary concert ran for 35 minutes, with students and teachers screaming throughout the set.
The band entered as Alice Cooper’s "School's Out" blared from the speakers, and U2 launched into a seven-song set that spanned I Will Follow and Out Of Control from their 1980 debut Boy to Vertigo, a UK No. 1 single 24 years later, according to Global Banking & Finance Review.
Bono pointed to a building in the distance and asked, "Is that the science lab?" as he arrived on stage, while students watched from the school yard, the same source reported.
Pupils waved signs that included "It’s a beautiful day - no school" and "Bono, my mum says hi!" as teachers pulled down pupils who’d climbed on their classmates' shoulders.
Music Generation and new album
U2 brought 32 string musicians from Music Generation onto the stage for One, with each musician representing a county in Ireland, as multiple outlets described the collaboration.
“Thanks for showing up. I suppose you'd nowhere else to go.”
Consequence of Sound said U2 debuted the lead single Silencio from their new album Carnaval De Luz during the school show, alongside classics like I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, and With Or Without You.
U2 debuted the lead single Silencio from their new album Carnaval De Luz during the school show, alongside classics like I Will Follow, Beautiful Day, and With Or Without You.
Rolling Stone also reported that Bono thanked the school and paid tribute to the Reverend Jack Heaslip, saying "He travelled the world with us," before paying tribute to other previous teachers in attendance.
Bono told the crowd, "Thanks for showing up. I suppose you'd nowhere else to go," as the band closed with With Or Without You.