Last night, legendary Irish rockers U2 found themselves in Berlin, performing the final show of their “Experience + Innocence” tour in support of their two most recent albums, Songs Of Innocence and Songs Of Experience. During the show, Bono said something that suggests the band is possibly thinking about calling it a day: Addressing the crowd, the singer said, “We’ve been on the road for quite some time, just going on 40 years, and these last four years have been really something very special for us. We’re going away now.”
Bono: "we've been on the road for quite some time, just going on 40 years, and this last 4 years have been really something very special for us. We're going away now…" #U2eiTour
— U2gigs (@u2gigs) November 13, 2018
Seasoned U2 fans know, however, that this isn’t the first time Bono said something on stage that made it sound like the band was retiring. During one of the final dates of the Lovetown tour, which ran from late 1989 to early 1990, Bono told the audience, “This is just the end of something for U2. […] It’s no big deal, it’s just… we have to go away and and dream it all up again.”
Then again, the circumstances then were much different than they are now. In 1990, the band members were in their late 20s, but now, they’re pushing 60, and they’ve had a busy past few years with two albums and a ton of touring. Maybe they’re looking back on their storied career and are fine with ending U2, or maybe they just need a break. Again, they’ve been busy, so some rest would surely serve them well. It also feels like they have fuel left in the tank — I personally attest that “The Little Things That Give You Away” from last year’s Songs Of Experience is one of their best songs ever — so time will tell what Bono really meant.
