U2’s sold out iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE European Tour 2015 will finish with six home shows – two in Belfast on November 18 & 19 and four shows in Dublin on November 23, 24, 27 and 28.
It is the first time the band will perform songs from their recent album Songs of Innocence to a home crowd.
The album released last year, charts the group’s earliest experiences of growing up in Dublin influenced by 70s rock, punk and early 80s electronica and gives insight into how and why U2 came together.
With its themes of home and family in songs such as Cedarwood Road, Iris (Hold Me Close) and Raised by Wolves, which deals with the impact of the ‘74 Dublin/Monaghan bombings, Songs of Innocence charts the end of the time of innocence for all four band members and their friends, as teens growing up.
Tickets for the shows go on sale at 9am on Monday September 14, will be limited to 2 per purchaser and are priced from £30 to £165 for Belfast and from €30 to €185 in Dublin, plus charges.
Tickets can be bought at the 3Arena and SSE Arena box offices and online, with floor tickets being sold with the Paperless Ticket system, to ensure fans have access to tickets at face value. A limited number of student-priced floor tickets will be available for sale online. For full details see www.U2.com/tour
€2,000,000 (€2 million) from these concerts will go to Music Generation, Ireland’s National Music Education Programme which currently provides high quality subsidised music tuition to some 26,000 children and young people.
Music Generation was originally set up with €5m funding from U2’s Croke Park shows in 2009, along with a further €2m raised by The Ireland Funds.
“In the 18 years that I have worked with U2, the home shows are always very special. These shows promise to be brilliant” said Arthur Fogel, CEO Global Touring Live Nation Entertainment.
The Edge added: “Finding venues to take this show is actually quite tricky and we’re grateful to our overworked crew who finally cracked the reconfiguring to fit these venues.”
The iNNOCENCE + Experience Tour kicked off in May in Vancouver to rave reviews and the US leg saw the band joined onstage by specials guests including Jimmy Fallon, Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga, as they performed songs from across their career.