Frontman Bono says songs of ‘lamentation’ could not wait but promises further material this year
U2 on Wednesday evening released a new batch of songs, their first original material since 2017.
In a surprise move that delighted fans globally, the chart-topping band unveiled a standalone, six-track EP entitled U2 – Days of Ash.
The material includes collaborations with British singer Ed Sheeran and a Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier.
It sees the return of drummer Larry Mullen, having taken a lengthy break from the band. Hopes are now high of a new world tour to accompany the material.
Harking back to their campaigning days, the new songs chronicle recent injustices, from recent global conflicts to recent shootings in America.
The EP is described as “an immediate response to current events and inspired by many of the extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom”.
One song ‘American Obituary’ is about the shooting dead of activist and award-winning poet Ms Good, who was killed by an ICE agent on January 7 while monitoring their activities from her car.
The Trump administration claimed that she had endangered an officer’s life with her vehicle, a claim that anti-ICE activists and her family say is a blatant lie.
The song said she was “shot at almost point-black range while exercising her right to peacefully protest, a right that is protected under the First Amendment of the US constitution”.
In response to the release, Renee’s partner, Becca Good, said: “Renee didn’t just believe in kindness; she lived it, fully and fiercely. Renee always showed up for others. She believed every person deserved the same compassion, care, and dignity regardless of who they were, where they came from, or what they looked like. It was the core of who she was. She valued people, community, and connection.
“She would be deeply moved by this tribute from U2, and would hope it makes a difference in the world.”
Another song Yours Eternally featuring Ed Sheeran and Taras Topolia comes ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent
News in 90 Seconds, Thursday, February 19
Tribute is also paid to Palestinian activist and English teacher Awdah Hathaleen. A consultant on the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, he was murdered in his West Bank village in July 2025 by an Israeli settler.
Frontman Bono said that while a full studio album will follow later in the year, these EP tracks, five songs and a poem, “couldn’t wait”.
“These songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow,” he said.
Despite all the “awfulness” we see normalised on a daily basis, there is nothing normal about these “mad and maddening times”, Bono said.
“We need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future. And in each other.”
Mullen said he believes “these new songs stand up to our best work.”
U2 have released their first material since 2017
“We talk a lot about when to release new tracks. You don’t always know. The way the world is now feels like the right moment,” he said.
“Going back to our earliest days, working with Amnesty or Greenpeace, we’ve never shied away from taking a position and sometimes that can get a bit messy, there’s always some sort of blowback. But it’s a big side of who we are and why we still exist.”
Another track Song of the Future is a tribute to Sarina Esmailzadeh (16). The Iranian schoolgirl was killed by security forces while taking part in the 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests.
Today also heralds the release of online magazine Propaganda, entitled U2 – Days of Ash: Six Postcards from the Present… Wish We Weren’t Here.
It comes 40 years after the first print edition of the U2 fan mag and has exclusive interviews with the band.
The Dublin foursome have clocked up 22 Grammies and sold more than 170 million albums worldwide.
The digital release of the EP takes place today, while a short documentary to accompany the song ‘Yours Eternally’ is scheduled for February 24, which is the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.