Songs of Experience Promotional Tour

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-10-29)

Appearances and Possible Appearances:

  • CONFIRMED: Nov. 3: Cannes, France (NRJ Awards) Bono and Adam of U2 to perform with Kygo
  • RUMOURED: Nov. 10: Madrid, Spain (Los40 Awards) Bono and Adam, as well as Kygo will attend, no performance confirmed.
  • CONFIRMED: Nov. 11: London, England (MTV Presents Trafalgar Square) U2 to perform
  • RUMOURED: Dec. 2: New York, NY (Saturday Night Live) U2 are rumoured to appear. (See Below)

Album Listening Sessions:

  • Nov 15: London, England, Abbey Road Studios, Contest through Absolute Radio. (Details November 9 on Absolute)
  • Nov 27: Los Angeles, CA, Contest through iHeart Radio Stations
  • Nov 29: New York, NY, Contest through iHeart Radio Station

These sessions will involve a listening session to the album, and some members of the band being present. A performance at these sessions is not expected.

Interviews and Magazines:

  • NPO Television, Amsterdam (DJ Ruud de Wild met and interviewed with Bono and The Edge in Sao Paulo, Brazil) 22:30 Amsterdam Time [More Info]

Full Information:

With every album, U2 embarks on a number of promotional appearances, usually appearing on television and award programs, often performing their new material. Now that The Joshua Tree 2017 tour is completed, U2 will be starting promotion of the new album throughout the months of November and December. We expect this to start very soon, and feature a number of appearances by the band over the next six weeks.

What appearances are confirmed? To date very few appearances are confirmed. The promotional tour kicks off with the NRJ Awards in Cannes, France on November 4, 2017. U2 is nominated for International Band of the Year at these awards held on November 4, 2017 in Cannes France. Bono and Adam will be in attendance, and it has been announced that they will perform the song, “You’re The Best Thing About Me” live with Kygo at that awards ceremony. Bono and Adam Clayton will attend the Los40 Music Awards, and U2 will receive the Golden Award for Music at this ceremony. It’s already been announced the band is winning the award. It will be presented to them on November 10 at the Wizink Center in Madrid, Spain. U2 is also nominated for “Tour of the Year” at the Awards which will be announced at the ceremony. Kygo is also confirmed for the Los40 awards so expect Adam and Bono to possibly join Kygo again for “You’re The Best Thing About Me”. And now, newly confirmed, U2 will play MTV Presents Trafalgar Square on November 11, the night before the MTV EMA awards, and part of U2’s appearance will be shown during those awards on November 12. (U2 is nominated for a couple of MTV EMA Awards. U2 is nominated for Best Live Act and also for Best Rock Act.)

Beyond that there are no confirmed appearances at this time. We can however share some information that has been passed along to us, but at this time, all of this should be considered rumour until such time that it is officially announced. We know that plans are subject to change and even once confirmed, which these are not, things can still change. The promotional tour is supposed to start in early November in Europe and will continue in Europe until mid-month. During that time it is said that U2 will appear at several locations in different countries. The band will then travel to North America, where the promotional tour will continue at the end of November and during the start of December, wrapping up in the first week of December.

We are able to share one rumour, and that is that the band will appear on Saturday Night Live on December 2, 2017. This is not yet confirmed by U2 or by Saturday Night Live, but the source who has shared this with us has been correct in the past. If the band do play on Saturday Night Live, it will be the fourth time that the band performs on the show. The first time was during the promotion of All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and the band performed “Beautiful Day” and “Elevation.” In 2004 they returned during the promotion of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and performed five songs, although only the first three were broadcast. That night the band performed “Vertigo,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own,” “I Will Follow,” “All Because of You,” and a second performance of “Vertigo”. The most recent performance was September 9, 2009, when the band performed “Breathe,” “Moment of Surrender,” “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)” and “With or Without You”. “With or Without You” was not broadcast. Again, we’d like to urge caution, as this is still just a rumour at this time.

Just because U2 are nominated for an award, does not mean the band will show up. But there are a few high profile awards shows coming up at the same time that U2 will be in promotional mode, and an appearance is never out of the question.

U2 is also nominated at a couple of American awards at this time. U2 is nominated a number of times in the upcoming Billboard Touring Awards. The tour is nominated for Top Tour, Top Draw, and Top Boxscore for the concerts held at the Stade de France on July 25 and 26. These awards are given out on Tuesday, November 14 and usually there are no performances, nor are they televised, so U2’s participation is unlikely.

U2 is also nominated for Tour of the Year at the American Music Awards. Those awards are held November 19 at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

As mentioned earlier, just because U2 are nominated for an award, does not mean they will perform, or even show up! The promotional tour will likely include some music related television shows as well and would not just be limited to awards shows. The promotion to date has focused around the release of “You’re The Best Thing About Me” and has included a number of interviews on radio and television. As we get more information about what stops are planned we will publish that information here.

Looking for additional information about Songs of Experience? The singles? The tour? We’re keeping all of our Songs of Experience coverage in one spot for you.

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