The new single from the album is 'Torn' featuring Dolly Parton.
Special edition of U2 magazine Propaganda includes interviews with band and collaborators. Read here.
"Hugely generous: bold, adventurous, refusing despair… Fifty years since they came together in the schoolyard, U2 still throw one hell of a parade." MOJO ★★★★
U2 sound revitalized on Carnaval de Luz. The rock legends return with a tightly focused album that stands as a counterargument to pop-culture doomsaying.' ROLLING STONE ★★★★
"On their first album of new songs in nearly a decade… music that is impassioned and rejuvenated… rousing, restorative rock from a band ready to take on the world again." THE GUARDIAN ★★★★
"On this Carnival of Light, Irish rock's crazy diamonds shine on brighter than ever." THE IRISH TIMES ★★★★
"Five decades on, the unforgettable fire of U2 continues." MAIL ON SUNDAY ★★★★
Carnaval De Luz - the 16th studio album from U2 and the first album of new material from the band in nine years - is out now. Listen/Buy HERE.
This week also sees the release of 'Torn' (feat. Dolly Parton) (Kent Wells Version), a Country Version of the final track on the album, a duet between Bono and the late, great Dolly Parton.
Co-written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, 'Torn' is a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances.
Parton recorded the song in Nashville, Tennessee in June this year, making it her final recorded vocal performance prior to her passing on August 25, 2026.
'Torn' is produced by Jacknife Lee, and also features Daniel Lanois playing pedal steel. 'Torn' (feat. Dolly Parton) (Kent Wells Version) is available via Dolly's most recent label partner, Big Machine Records.
Torn is the fourth single to be released from Carnaval De Luz. It follows the release of three singles and accompanying music videos: 'Street of Dreams', 'Silencio' and 'The Greatest Show On Earth'.
Carnaval De Luz is accompanied by a special edition of Propaganda as a one-off digital zine, with a limited-edition print run. Forty years ago, in February 1986, the first issue of 'Propaganda' dropped through the letterboxes of U2 fans around the world. Aspiring to match other fan magazines at that time, 'Propaganda' was born out of the punk-era D.I.Y. zine culture that embraced attitude, ideas and dialogue. The 124-page Propaganda: Carnaval De Luz Edition includes song lyrics; Bono's non-linear liner notebook; exclusive interviews with producer Jacknife Lee; collaborators Anton Corbijn, Martin Garrix and Viviane Sassen; as well as reflections from band members on 50 years of U2. Read HERE.
U2 is set to hit the road again with Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth, a world tour that will see Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. return to select stadiums in 2027 and beyond. The tour - will kick off in Mexico City on February 23rd, 2027, with the UK and Europe leg starting April 26th in Stockholm, ahead of four shows at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June.
Carnaval De Luz Announced in the week that marked 50 years since Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a handwritten note to the noticeboard of Mount Temple Comprehensive School on the Northside of Dublin in September 1976, 'Drummer Seeks Musicians To Form Band', comes a body of work that sees Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. still finding new dimensions and possibilities within their creative process.
Recorded all over the place and produced by Jacknife Lee, Carnaval De Luz is a collection of 12 songs exploring themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom and endurance in the face of dark, encroaching forces. Sonically, there are echoes of the band's most experimental work combined with some strict songwriting in the shape of 'The Greatest Show On Earth', 'Glorify' and 'Midnight Sunshine', as well as the 2mins 35second homage to early surf-punk insolence that is 'Silencio'.
The roots of Carnaval De Luz can be traced directly to U2's two surprise-released and critically acclaimed six-track EPs of early 2026, recorded during the same creative period as the new album. Those releases, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, followed the liturgical calendar, and so Carnaval De Luz sits, stands and dances before them in timeline. Carnival, a celebration of the flesh, 'carne', before the denial that is Lent, a period of reflection, and the rebirth of Easter. The song connecting the album and two EPs is the final track on the new album, 'Torn', a duet between Bono and the late, great Dolly Parton, in what has sadly turned out to be her last recorded vocal performance. Co-written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, it's a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances.
Carnaval De Luz is released in the band's 50th year, 2026, one in which U2 will have released 24 new songs. The album also sees collaborations from Brian Eno (co-writing and synthesizers on 'Go (Carnaval De Luz)', 'The Greatest Show on Earth' and 'Can't Stop Us Now'), Martin Garrix (co-writing on 'Glorify'), and Daniel Lanois (playing pedal steel on 'Torn'); with additional production from Ryan Tedder on 'Silencio'.
Track listing for Carnaval De Luz Go (Carnaval De Luz) La Reina Street Of Dreams The Mirror Maker (Rosalía) Superficiality If The World Is At War We Better Not Be Silencio The Greatest Show On Earth Glorify Midnight Sunshine Can't Stop Us Now Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)
Formats include: Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl & CD Boxsets, Various Limited Edition Coloured & Bespoke Vinyl variants, Standard CD, Standard Vinyl, Digital Download. Available HERE.
2025
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