A Throwdown
Band's tour in support of Carnaval de Luz, named after Bono's favorite song on the LP, begins February 2027 in Mexico City
U2 promise to take fans to “The Greatest Show on Earth” with the latest single from the band’s upcoming album Carnaval De Luz, a track that also lends its name to the band’s 2027 world tour.
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Bono hailed “The Greatest Show on Earth” as his favorite song on the new album. “It’s maybe our greatest song in a very long time,” Bono said. “That was a reason to stay in the band.”
The song was paired with a video directed by longtime collaborator Anton Corbijn, who shot the visual in the California desert. The video, which stars the band in “a religious cult where women do all the heavy lifting,” plays up on the themes of Bono’s lyrics.
“If this is love, we make cathedrals of our hurt / People digging their dreams out of the dirt,” he sings. “We were once the greatest show on earth.”
The track shares its name with U2’s just-announced The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour, which kicks off February 2027 in Mexico City followed by dates in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires; North American and European dates are forthcoming.
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“‘The Greatest Show on Earth’? Now that’s a throwdown. It’s a dare, to ourselves as much as anyone, to try and have the best night of anybody’s life,” the band said of the track and the tour in a statement. “A bit of showman, a bit of shaman, a riot of color, unreasonable guitar, bass and drums, and tunes you can hold onto. Because if people are gonna show up, we certainly are.”
“The Greatest Show on Earth” follows previous singles “Silencio” and “Street of Dreams” from Carnaval de Luz, due out November 13. “It’s an extraordinary collection of songs,” bassist Adam Clayton told Rolling Stone, “and it’s the culmination of the work that everyone has been doing for 50 years.”