U2 50th Anniversary Concert: The Sept. 25, 2026 Surprise Show at Mount Temple

U2 celebrated their 50th anniversary on Sept. 25, 2026 with a surprise concert at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, the school where the band began. About 1,000 students and staff watched, according to reports, and U2 played their new single “Silencio” live for the first time.

The date matters. Fifty years earlier, 14-year-old drummer Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a notice on Mount Temple’s bulletin board looking for musicians to start a band.

U2’s 9/25/2026 setlist

Reports from the show list these songs:

• “I Will Follow”
• “Out of Control”
• “Vertigo”
• “Beautiful Day”
• “Silencio” (live debut)
• “One,” with 32 string players from Music Generation, Ireland’s national music education programme, one for each county

For the full running order, see the U2tours.com setlist. These songs are the best early clue to the U2 2027 tour setlist.

The Grafton Street set

Later the same day, U2 made a second surprise appearance, playing from the balcony of Bewley’s on Grafton Street in central Dublin. NME reported that the band paid tribute to busker Glen Hansard there.

Is there a U2 50th anniversary tour?

There’s no separate 50th anniversary tour. The anniversary leads into the Carnaval de Luz album, released Nov. 13, 2026, and the Carnaval de Luz world tour that opens Feb. 23, 2027. Reports say that tour will end in Ireland in 2028.

More from this year: U2 in 2026.