U2 recently celebrated their 50th anniversary and did some surprise gigs in Dublin. One was at the Mount Temple School where they formed 50 years ago and another at Bewley’s on Grafton Street to a packed crowd. It was a Friday and I had work but I would’ve loved to have taken the journey to that gig. A train from Belfast Grand Central Station to Dublin only takes around 2 hours!

The band have also been celebrating this anniversary through announcing a new album and releasing two surprise EPs earlier this year, Days of Ash and Easter Lily.

Initially I wasn’t too impressed by Days of Ash. Good musically, but it sounded like typical U2. The usual echoing guitars, thick bass, creative drums and a generally quite underproduced sound for such a massive band. Some say that U2 have become overproduced in their later years, but I disagree – they still sound like they’re playing in a room to me. The drums are always weirdly low in the mix which somehow works for me and adds to the sound.

I did think that after a decade away, coming back with almost U2 parody songs just signalled that the creativity of the band had truly dried up – not to sound too dramatic! They used to radically reinvent themselves, particularly in the ’90s, which paved the way for bands like Radiohead to do the same.

However, U2 surprise-released another EP shortly after, the aforementioned Easter Lily. This EP has shown their experimental side for their first time in a long while, displaying that they are still able of going to totally new sonic landscapes.

The final track “COEXIST” is one of the strangest songs the band has done. No guitars, bass or drums. Just Bono sending a plea to God over synths for seven minutes, with frequent and slightly uncomfortable acapella passages. Not necessarily an easy listen, or a song I return to much, but certainly a bold choice.

This made the rest of the EPs quite interesting in the end. The rest of Easter Lily once again sounded like trademark U2 to me, even with The Edge singing on “Song for Hal.” However, when you close the two EPs with the radical ballad “COEXIST,” it doesn’t sound out of place at all.

It makes the combined album of their signature style sound quite experimental in the end, like it was building up to “COEXIST,” which I think is quite an original achievement. For this combined album, I would play the opening riff of “Yours Eternally” and then fade out at the start of “One Life At A Time.” I would also put “In A Life” as the penultimate track.

The band have since released a few singles for their upcoming album Carnaval de Luz. Once again, these are in typical U2 style. However, if there are more songs like “COEXIST” on the new album – no guitars, bass or drums – the album could be quite radical like the EPs. Contain some typical U2 moments alongside experimental sounds and still be cohesive. Brian Eno, who has worked on many influential albums, including U2’s defining works, produced “COEXIST” – and is involved with the new album.

As well, at the end of “COEXIST” there is a strange guitar noise that comes out of nowhere. Bono says it will lead into the first song on Carnaval de Luz and that the album is meant to be experienced alongside the two EPs. Carnaval is meant to be listened to first, then Days of Ash and finally Easter Lily. A narrative based around the liturgical calendar.

So I do think that overall this is certainly an interesting 50th anniversary year of U2!