Irish rockers U2 roll into town this weekend for two sold out shows in Belfast. The band will play two consecutive nights, the 27th and 28th October at the SSE, their first show here in almost three years. Tickets for the first night sold out within minutes of being released, prompting the band to announce they were adding a second date, which again sold out as fans snapped up the chance to see the group perform live.
The tour which began in the US in May, has been in Europe since August with dates in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands in the past two months. It came to the UK last week and with the two nights in Belfast and four in Dublin the penultimate shows on these shores before the tour ends in Berlin midway through November.
‘Experience and Innocence’ is the sequel to the band’s record breaking ‘Innocence and Experience Tour’ in 2015 which was voted the number one concert of that year by the New York Times. It comes off the back of the band releasing their 14th studio album last year and will see them return to rock indoor venues for the first time since 2015. The shows will featuring multiple performance areas, a state-of-the-art sound system, plus an all new super high-resistant LED screen, nine-times the resolution of the 2015 screen.
Headed by lead singer Bono the group formed U2 in 1976 and released their first single ‘11 O’Clock Tick-Tock’ in May 1980. Five months later they released their debut album ‘Boy’ and they have gone on to have global success in a career spanning 42 years.
U2 have sold more than 170 million records, placing them among the best selling artists of all time. The group’s fifth studio album, ‘The Joshua Tree’ is one of the biggest selling albums in the US and worldwide and they have also collected 22 Grammy Awards.
Anyone lucky enough to get a ticket is in for a special night as U2 return to rock Belfast with doors at the SSE opening at 6:30 pm.