A thought struck me when I heard there was a new U2 album coming out. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s told me U2 are their favourite band. I know plenty of people who like them. I know people who’ll go and see them and people who’ll buy their records. The ones who really get worked up about U2, though, always seem to be the ones who can’t stand them.
I’ve never quite understood it. Yes, Apple put “Songs Of Innocence” in people’s iTunes libraries back in 2014. U2 could have said no. Perhaps they should have. Twelve years is a long time to hold a grudge over an album you got for free, mind.
Nine years on from their last studio album, “Carnaval De Luz” feels like something of an event. It feels like the world’s ready for another U2 record, and the first thing they do is make it disorientating. On “Go (Carnaval De Luz)”, Bono sings about wanting neither to find himself nor lose himself in you. “La Reina” is a bit of a glam rocker and that voice rings out. “Street Of Dreams” gives us “Be free” and “And then free me” before, appropriately enough, losing itself in a sea of ’60s feedback.
The harmonies on “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)”, U2’s tribute to the Spanish singer, are incredible. The enormous scope of it seems to come naturally to them. “Superficiality” stomps and has plenty to say, while “If The World Is At War We Better Not Be” might be the best thing here. Even when U2 strip a song down it sounds big, and there’s a simple message that comes through all that Auto-Tune. Then “Silencio” comes along and some simple rock ’n’ roll breaks out.
Is love the greatest show on earth, then? You can already hear a stadium singing “The Greatest Show On Earth” back to them next year. And just when you think you’d struggle to name a band that sounds quite like U2, the Edge gets that guitar sound and you realise Stereophonics have been ripping them off for years.
“Glorify” builds pleasantly enough and it’s fun. On “Midnight Sunshine”, there’s a line about discovering on the small screen that some people aren’t good. Prescient, when you think about it. It’s classy pop music, too. The horns give “Can’t Stop Us Now” some real gravitas, and then there’s “Torn”. Dolly Parton is at her best, the duet with Bono is perfect and the sadness that’s been there in the record all along is beautiful here.
A band like U2 can spend the rest of their lives playing songs they’ve already written. They made this because they wanted to. Boy and The Unforgettable Fire will always be there, and “Carnaval De Luz” is a pretty decent document of where they are in 2026. The creativity is still there, and so is the desire to take chances. The haters will have their say, as ever. A carnival of light? It shines pretty brightly.
Rating 8/10
