U2 50th Anniversary: Dublin Gigs Honor Mount Temple and Glen Hansard

U2 50th anniversary celebrations brought surprise Dublin concerts, a return to Mount Temple, new music, and a moving tribute to Glen Hansard.

A Half-Century Homecoming

Some band anniversaries arrive with a press release and a commemorative box set. U2’s 50th anniversary came with school uniforms, street crowds, familiar faces, and the kind of Dublin surprise that makes a city feel like one giant living room.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. returned to Dublin for two special performances on September 25: one at their former school, Mount Temple Comprehensive, and another from the balcony of Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street. The concerts brought the band’s story full circle, from a handwritten notice seeking musicians to an international career built across five decades.

The first show took place above Mount Temple’s school playground, where around 1,000 students and staff gathered to see the group perform. It was an especially meaningful return for Mullen Jr., who played his first live concert with the band at the school and later underwent neck and back surgery in 2023. This performance marked his first live appearance since that surgery.

The emotional thread began half a century earlier, when Mullen Jr. posted a handwritten note on the school noticeboard: “Drummer seeks musicians to form band.” It sounds almost comically simple now, like the opening line of a movie that nobody realizes is about to become a legend. But that little announcement changed everything.

The Noticeboard That Started It All

The school’s former RE teacher Sophie Shirley, now 80, remembered seeing Mullen Jr.’s musical ambition before the band had properly taken shape.

“One day I happened to mention ‘God has a particular purpose for each individual’ and Larry’s hand went up and he said: ‘Miss I want to be a drummer in a band’. I’d never seen Larry speak with such emphasis and he never spoke up so much like that.”

Sophie Shirley

Shirley recalled walking past the noticeboard on her way to the staff room. When she noticed Mullen Jr.’s announcement, she understood that he was trying to make something happen, though she never imagined the note would lead to a band returning to the very same school 50 years later.

The band first played together in Mullen Jr.’s parents’ kitchen exactly 50 years before the anniversary concert. They later performed their first gig on the same stage at a school talent contest, where their set consisted of cover songs. The contrast is wonderfully ordinary: a kitchen, a school event, a few young musicians, and then—well, U2.

Returning to that stage wasn’t simply a nostalgic gesture. It connected the group’s earliest experiments with the band they became, allowing today’s pupils to watch a piece of local history unfold practically on their doorstep.

Seven Songs, One Very Happy School Day

The Mount Temple set featured seven songs, including the first live performance of U2’s new single, “Silencio,” which had been released the previous day.

As the four members walked onstage, Bono greeted the students with a playful nod to the school setting.

“We’ve escaped the lab. How’s the experiment working for you?”

Bono

The pupils waved signs reading “I love U2” and “It’s a beautiful day – no school,” which may be the most convincing argument ever made for the educational value of live music.

The opening moments had a charmingly imperfect edge. Bono’s microphone briefly cut out as the band launched into “I Will Follow”, making the performance feel less like a polished stadium production and more like a spirited return to their school instruments. In other words, the technology stumbled, but the room didn’t.

U2 soon moved through a compact set that included:

• “I Will Follow”
• “Vertigo”
• “Beautiful Day”
• “Out Of Control”
• “One”
• “Silencio”
• “With Or Without You”

During the soaring performance of “Beautiful Day,” Bono slipped in lyrics from Elbow’s “One Day Like This.” The band then revisited “Out Of Control,” their debut single, before delivering a poignant version of “One.”

For “One,” U2 were joined by 32 students from Music Generation, Ireland’s music education program. The young musicians performed on strings, adding a graceful new texture to one of the band’s most emotionally resonant songs.

“This island is full of song and music and mischief and we’re so proud to be Irish,” Bono told the crowd before the performance. It was a statement that neatly captured the day’s spirit: proud, playful, communal, and unmistakably tied to place.

When the band left the stage, the pupils began chanting for “one more song.” Naturally, U2 returned, closing the school concert with “With Or Without You”. It was the sort of finale that turns a school memory into a permanent landmark in someone’s life.

New Songs and an Old Dublin Connection

The anniversary celebrations continued later in the evening, when U2 performed a surprise set from the balcony of Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street. Before that performance, four tracks from the band’s upcoming album Carnaval De Luz were played at former music venue McGonagles, a place where U2 performed during their early years in the late 1970s.

The preview offered a glimpse into the musical world of the new record. Alongside “Silencio,” the album track “The Greatest Show On Earth” received its first airing. The song begins with a rhythmic drum pattern, eerie guitar, and a heavy bass line before opening into a large-scale anthem. Its expansive shape recalls the grand sweep of “Get Out Of Your Own Way” and “City Of Blinding Lights.”

The album’s closer, “Torn,” features Dolly Parton’s final recorded vocal performance. The tender ballad centers on two sons arguing over their differences while Parton sings, “I love you both but I feel so torn” in the opening verse. She later trades vocals with Bono during the chorus, giving the song an intimate, conversational quality.

Carnaval De Luz is described as a “messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs.” The 12-track album was produced by Jacknife Lee and explores spirituality, friendship, freedom, and endurance. It is scheduled for release on November 13, following two surprise six-track EPs released earlier in the year: Days Of Ash and Easter Lily.

Grafton Street Pays Tribute to Glen Hansard

The Grafton Street set followed a similar path to the Mount Temple performance, but it carried an additional emotional weight. U2 used the occasion to honor Glen Hansard, the beloved musician and longtime street performer who died in a motorcycle accident in July.

Hansard had regularly busked on Grafton Street, and Bono pointed toward the spot where his late friend used to perform.

“One man who will never be silenced, silencioed, never could, never would was Glen Hansard. He was the king busker, king of Grafton Street.”

Bono

That tribute led into a performance of “All I Want Is You,” followed by Hansard’s Oscar-winning folk song “Falling Slowly”. The Edge took on vocal duties for the song, giving the moment a distinct tenderness. The performance also followed Bono’s appearance and musical contribution at Hansard’s funeral.

U2’s tribute didn’t feel like a celebrity cameo tucked into a set list. It felt like a local musician being remembered in the place where his voice had become part of the city’s daily soundtrack. Grafton Street has always had its own rhythm—footsteps, conversation, buskers, passing traffic—and Hansard was deeply woven into it.

Watch the Grafton Street Performances

As the street performance came to an end, the crowd called for “one more tune” and began singing the words to “40,” the closing song from U2’s War era. Bono called it a suggestion from the “jukebox jury,” and The Edge and Adam Clayton swapped instruments before launching into the song, which often closed the band’s shows during their earlier tours.

The reaction from longtime U2 fan Cormse Jones captured the mood of the night:

“It was brilliant. They were all bangers and no clangers. The sound was also incredible for a street gig and Bono was amazing.”

Cormse Jones

That may be the perfect verdict for a surprise street concert: no clangers, plenty of bangers, and a frontman still capable of making an unexpected Dublin gathering feel enormous.

A Birthday Written Into the City

U2’s 50th anniversary concerts worked because they weren’t staged in anonymous venues. Mount Temple gave the band a chance to revisit the beginning, while Grafton Street allowed them to honor the musical community that helped shape Dublin’s identity.

One performance looked back at the handwritten notice that started the journey. The other remembered a fellow musician whose songs belonged to the street. In between came old favorites, new material, school strings, technical hiccups, student chants, and a crowd demanding one last song.

That’s a pretty lovely way to mark half a century: not by placing the past behind glass, but by bringing it back into the room—and letting it sing.

FAQ

• When did U2 perform their 50th anniversary concerts?
  U2 held the special Dublin performances on September 25, marking 50 years since Larry Mullen Jr. began assembling the group.
• Where did U2 play during the anniversary celebration?
  The band performed at their former school, Mount Temple Comprehensive, and later played a surprise set from the balcony of Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street.
• What songs did U2 perform at Mount Temple?
  The seven-song set included “I Will Follow,” “Vertigo,” “Beautiful Day,” “Out Of Control,” “One,” “Silencio,” and “With Or Without You.”
• How did U2 honor Glen Hansard?
  Bono paid tribute to Hansard as the “king busker” of Grafton Street. U2 then performed “All I Want Is You” and Hansard’s “Falling Slowly,” with The Edge singing.
• What is U2’s upcoming album?
  U2’s upcoming 12-track album is titled Carnaval De Luz. Produced by Jacknife Lee, it explores spirituality, friendship, freedom, and endurance, with a planned release on November 13.

If this anniversary celebration sent you back to your favorite U2 era, bring that feeling home with a thoughtfully designed album cover poster from Architeg Prints. It’s a warm, stylish way to keep a little Dublin-sized music history on your wall.