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U2 have shared two new songs called ‘Country Mile’ and ‘Picture Of You (X + W)’ taken from their original sessions for ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ – listen to them below.
In celebration of their iconic 11th studio album, the Irish rock band have announced their release of a shadow album titled ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’.
The forthcoming record – available to pre-order here – will include new, unreleased songs dug up from the archive of the original album’s sessions.
Along with the new project, ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ has been remastered for the first time for a special 20th anniversary edition – including bonus track ‘Fast Cars’.
The ‘Re-Assemble Edition’ – featuring both ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ and ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’ will be available as a dual digital release on November 22.
The first two tasters of the new project are out now, which you can check out below along with further release details.
The remastered ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ will also be released in physical formats on November 22 which you can explore here. ‘How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb’, meanwhile, will be exclusively available in physical format for Record Store Day Black Friday as a limited edition black and red marble 1LP vinyl, and as a standalone 10 track digital release on November 29.
The band have selected 10 “unreleased gems” from the era of recording the album to share with fans. Speaking in a press statement about the new anniversary edition of the album, The Edge shared: “The sessions for ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ were such a creative period for the band, we were exploring so many song ideas in the studio. We were inspired to revisit our early music influences, and it was a time of deep personal introspection for Bono who was attempting to process – dismantle – the death of his father.
“For this anniversary edition I went into my personal archive to see if there were any unreleased gems and I hit the jackpot. We chose ten that really spoke to us. Although at the time we left these songs to one side, with the benefit of hindsight we recognise that our initial instincts about them being contenders for the album were right, we were onto something.
The guitarist concluded: “What you’re getting on this shadow album is that raw energy of discovery, the visceral impact of the music, a sonic narrative, a moment in time, the exploration and interaction of four musicians playing together in a room… this is the pure U2 drop.”
‘Picture Of You (X+W)’
‘Evidence Of Life’
‘Luckiest Man In The World’
‘Treason’
‘I Don’t Wanna See You Smile’
‘Country Mile’
‘Happiness’
‘Are We Gonna Wait Forever?’
‘Theme From The Batman’
‘All Because Of You 2’
‘Vertigo’
‘Miracle Drug’
‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own’
‘Love and Peace or Else’
‘City of Blinding Lights’
‘All Because of You’
‘A Man and a Woman’
‘Crumbs from Your Table’
‘One Step Closer’
‘Original of the Species’
‘Yahweh’
‘Fast Cars’
‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ features some of U2’s biggest songs of the early 2000s, including ‘Vertigo’, ‘All Because Of You’, ‘Miracle Drug’ and ‘City Of Blinding Lights’.
Amongst the new collection of songs is a track called ‘Luckiest Man In The World’, which may be familiar to super fans under its working title of ‘Mercy’ – an early demo of which was leaked online almost 20 years ago.
This is hardly the first time the Irish rock legends have announced an album reissue. In 2019 they released ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ from 1984 and ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ on coloured vinyl. The following year there was a remastered edition of 2000’s ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ to mark the album’s 20th anniversary.
In spring of this year, U2 also shared a digital re-release of ‘Discothèque’ as part of a new series of “deep dives”, and a new selection of b-sides and mixes.
The news comes after U2 recently announced a new concert movie that was filmed during their residency at the Sphere Las Vegas.
Titled V-U2, the concert film was directed by the band’s guitarist The Edge and Morleigh Steinberg over the course of their historic residency at the Sphere Las Vegas.
Elsewhere, this time last year the group said they have some “amazing new songs” in the can, teasing that they will be “ready soon”.
Seemingly referencing their newly unearthed tracks, Bono and The Edge told Zane Lowe in a behind-the-scenes tour of the Sphere in a video for Apple Music: “There’s a lot that we have ready and some that need a little dusting off, but will be ready soon. I tell you, we’ve got some amazing new songs. Really exciting.”
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Franz Ferdinand have announced a North American headline tour for 2025 – find all the details below.
The Scottish band will head to the US and Canada next spring in support of their long-awaited sixth album ‘The Human Fear’, which is due for release on January 10 (pre-order/pre-save here).
“We’ve seen all of your comments and we are happy to announce that we’re heading back to North America in March and April next year,” they wrote on social media to confirm the dates.
Kicking off in Seattle on March 24, the forthcoming trek is also scheduled to visit Vancouver, San Francisco, Kansas City, Washington DC, Brooklyn, Montreal, Toronto and other cities.
Tickets go on general sale at 10am local time tomorrow (September 27) – you’ll be able to buy yours here. Alternatively, fans can access a pre-sale now by using the password ‘humanfear’.
Check out the announcement post and full itinerary below.
MARCH
24 – Showbox, Sodo – Seattle, WA
25 – Commodore – Vancouver, BC
28 – Warfield – San Francisco, CA
31 – Complex – The Grand – Salt Lake City, UT
APRIL
03 – Midland – Kansas City, MO
04 – The Fillmore – Minneapolis, MN
07 – Anthem – Washington, DC
08 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
10 – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, NY
12 – Orpheum – Boston, MA
14 – M Telus – Montreal, QB
15 – History – Toronto, ON
Before those shows, Franz Ferdinand will hit the road in the UK and Europe early next year. Find any remaining tickets here, and see the list of UK gigs below.
MARCH
05 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
06 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
07 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
Franz Ferdinand have already previewed ‘The Human Fear’ with the single ‘Audacious’. The album will follow on from the group’s acclaimed and dance-driven 2018 record, ‘Always Ascending’.
Speaking to NME recently, frontman Alex Kapranos explained: “It feels great to be putting a single out after a wee while, but this is also the beginnings of a new album. That’s a big milestone in Franz Ferdinand history.”
As for what fans can expect from ‘The Human Fear’, Kapranos added: “I’m not going to give away too much now because there’s still a bit of time before the album comes out, but I will say [‘Audacious’] is not the only sound that you’re going to get on the album – quite extremely far from it in some cases.
“I don’t think there’s a single song that you’ll hear on the album and won’t think, ‘Oh, is that Franz Ferdinand?’ At the same time, they will be thinking, ‘Oh, did they really do that?’ That’s not to say I start rapping or anything like that.”
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