U2 Tickets

U2: pop superstars announce 2018 Experience + Innocence tour following release of new album

With a record 22 Grammy Awards to their credit and albums sales in excess of 170 million, few bands in musical history can claim to match the success of U2. In a career now spanning more than 40 years, the Irish foursome have released 13 albums – including nine number UK ones – been justly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and sealed their place as one of the most of enduring and influential groups of all time. 

Yet, even with all that under their belts, the band show no signs of slowing down. After celebrating the 30th anniversary of their groundbreaking 1987 release The Joshua Tree with a stadium tour across the US, UK and Europe earlier this year, the band are back with a new record – Songs of Experience – this December.

The tour bus veterans then plan to hit the road again in 2018, with a massive eight-week North America tour likely to be followed by a host of European dates. Don’t miss your chance to catch these pop legends in action! Buy U2 tickets at StubHub.

U2: musical royalty still going strong after 40 years in the business

Formed at Dublin's Mount Temple Comprehensive School by then-teen schoolmates Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (The Edge), Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr., the young group first convened in Mullen's kitchen as a fledgling cover act that took inspiration from punk groups such as The Jam, The Clash and The Buzzcocks. Originally calling themselves Feedback, they changed their name to U2 in 1978. The band won first prize at a talent show in Limerick that same year and used the £500 prize money to cover the recording costs for a debut demo tape.

First noticed by CBS Ireland, U2 later signed with Island Records, leading to the 1980 release of their emotional, guitar-driven album Boy. Featuring the band's first hit single, "I Will Follow", U2's sound soon spread to the UK and US.

Inspired by world conflict and the ongoing unrest in Northern Ireland, the the band released their third LP, War, in 1983. Tracks such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "New Year's Day" and "Surrender" resonated with legions of fans, as the band's first openly political song collection proved strong enough to knock Michael Jackson's Thriller off the top spot of the UK charts. A stretch of shows that same year in the US and Germany resulted in the Under a Blood Red Sky live album and the Live at Red Rocks film.

Fans often regard 1987's The Joshua Tree as the band's magnum opus. One of the bestselling albums in history, surmounting 25 million sales worldwide, the Grammy Award-winning record spawned epics such as "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You", elevating U2 from a platinum selling arena rock act to the esoteric air above.

Similar artists to U2

Few rock or pop legends have endured as long – or as productively – as U2, but there are some heroes of yesteryear still rocking. Scottish new wave pioneers Simple Minds are back on stage in 2018, while electronic titans Depeche Mode have announced a huge 2017/18 European tour.