Photos: U2 to Launch THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH World Tour in 2027

Live Nation has announced that U2 is set to hit the road again with Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth, a world tour that will see Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. return to select stadiums in 2027 and beyond.

The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour - in support of the band's forthcoming 16th studio album Carnaval De Luz - will kick off in Mexico City on February 23rd, 2027 with support from Beck, with shows also announced for São Paulo and Buenos Aires, the only three Latin American cities the tour will visit next year. Additional 2027 dates for Europe and North America are set to be announced in the coming weeks; with plans for the band's all-important return home to Ireland in the works.

'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. A bit of showman, a bit of shaman, a riot of colour, unreasonable guitar, bass and drums, and tunes you can hold onto. Because if people are gonna show up, we certainly are.' - Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry

The tour announcement comes with the release of a new track titled 'The Greatest Show On Earth.' Co-written by U2 and Brian Eno, it is the third single to be taken from Carnaval De Luz. A story of lovers fighting to keep faith in each other - and faith itself. The video is directed by Anton Corbijn and was shot in the Californian desert; it satirizes the band as a religious cult where women do all the heavy lifting.

Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour - 2027 Dates

*with support from Beck

February 23 MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Estadio GNP Seguros*

February 26 MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Estadio GNP Seguros*

March 10 SÃO PAULO, Brazil - Estádio MorumBIS*

March 12 SÃO PAULO, Brazil - Estádio MorumBIS*

March 23 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Estadio River Plate*

March 25 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Estadio River Plate*

Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 has always – since their earliest days, including the industry-defining ZOO TV Tour which broke the mold in 1991 - consistently pushed the boundaries of live performance, with ground-breaking stage shows that embrace the latest in technology and innovation, most recently with one of the band's most ambitious creative projects to date, a sold-out run of 40 history-making, future-defining shows at Sphere, Las Vegas.

Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour marks U2's return to a stadium setting for a performance spectacle embracing human connection and intimacy at a grand scale, with a set list drawn from across the band's entire catalogue; the band's first stadium dates since wrapping the acclaimed The Joshua Tree Tour at Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium on December 15th, 2019, the final stop on a tour which saw U2 play to almost 3 million fans around the world.

U2 recently celebrated the band's 50th anniversary on Friday September 25th with a very special surprise performance on Dublin's Grafton Street for the town they hold dear.

Tickets for the Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour will first be available via U2.com Subscriber Presale commencing on Monday October 19th, 2026 at 10am local time. Remaining tickets will be available starting Thursday, October 22nd at 10am local time at U2.com.

Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour is produced by Live Nation Global Touring.

About Carnaval De Luz

Recorded all over the place and produced by Jacknife Lee, Carnaval De Luz is a collection of 12 songs exploring themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom and endurance in the face of dark, encroaching forces. Sonically, there are echoes of the band's most experimental work combined with some strict songwriting in the shape of 'The Greatest Show On Earth,' 'Glorify,' and 'Midnight Sunshine,' as well as the 2mins 35second homage to early surf-punk insolence that is 'Silencio.'

The roots of Carnaval De Luz can be traced directly to U2's two surprise-released and critically acclaimed six-track EPs of early 2026, recorded during the same creative period as the new album. Those releases, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, followed the liturgical calendar, and so Carnaval De Luz sits, stands and dances before them in timeline. Carnival, a celebration of the flesh, 'carne,' before the denial that is Lent, a period of reflection, and the rebirth of Easter.

The song connecting the album and two EPs is the final track on the new album, 'Torn,' a duet between Bono and the late, great Dolly Parton, in what has sadly turned out to be her last recorded vocal performance. Co-written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, it's a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances.

Carnaval De Luz is released in the band's 50th year, 2026, one in which U2 will have released 24 new songs. The album also sees collaborations from Brian Eno (co-writing and synthesizers on 'Go (Carnaval De Luz),' 'The Greatest Show on Earth,' and 'Can't Stop Us Now'), Martin Garrix (co-writing on 'Glorify'), and Daniel Lanois (playing pedal steel on 'Torn'); with additional production from Ryan Tedder on 'Silencio.'

Tracklist

Go (Carnaval De Luz)

La Reina

Street Of Dreams

The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)

Superficiality

If The World Is At War We Better Not Be

Silencio

The Greatest Show On Earth

Glorify

Midnight Sunshine

Can't Stop Us Now

Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)

Carnaval De Luz will be available in formats including: Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl & CD Boxsets, Various Limited Edition Coloured & Bespoke Vinyl variants, Standard CD, Standard Vinyl, Digital Download.

About U2

Formed in Dublin in 1976, U2 has toured the globe countless times, released 15 studio albums, sold 175 million albums and won numerous awards, including 22 Grammys and Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience award. U2 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and have twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song: in 2003 for 'The Hands That Built America' for Gangs of New York, and in 2014 for 'Ordinary Love' for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

U2's fourteenth studio album Songs Of Experience – the companion release to 2014's Songs Of Innocence - was released in December 2017 debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200, setting U2 apart as the only band in history to have topped the chart in four successive decades. In 2018, U2 hit the road with the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour, an arena production which saw the band continue to push the creative boundaries of technology and engineering.

Following 2017's acclaimed stadium run with The Joshua Tree Tour - the record-breaking smash hit tour celebrating the band's seminal 1987 album The Joshua Tree – The Joshua Tree Tour took U2 to New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, as well as bring 'the biggest band in the world' (The Guardian) to Singapore, Seoul, Manila and Mumbai for the very first time. In November 2019, the band released a track in collaboration with A.R. Rahman titled 'Ahimsa,' which was performed live at Mumbai's D.Y. Patil Stadium.

In 2020, SiriusXM and U2 announced the launch of U2 X-Radio, a complete immersion into the work and influences of the band from the Northside of Dublin, all curated by U2. Songs Of Surrender – a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band's catalogue, re-recorded and reimagined for 2023 in sessions spanning the last two years – was released on March 17, 2023, topping the album charts around the world including the UK and Ireland.

Acknowledged as one of the best live acts in the world, U2 have always – since their earliest days, including the industry-defining ZOO TV Tour which broke the mold in 1991 - consistently pushed the boundaries of live performance, with ground-breaking stage shows that embrace the latest in technology and innovation most recently with U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere which lit up Las Vegas for a critically-acclaimed 40-date run to launch the world's most state-of-the-art venue, Sphere.

Days Of Ash, a brand new 6-track EP, was released on Ash Wednesday, February 18th 2026, a self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem – 'American Obituary,' 'The Tears Of Things,' 'Song Of The Future,' 'Wildpeace,' 'One Life At A Time,' and 'Yours Eternally' (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia) – which came as an immediate response to current events and inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom. A second, separate 6-track EP titled Easter Lily was released on Good Friday this year, a much more reflective set of songs emerging from a more personal, private place that some may retreat to in such times – exploring themes of friendship, loss, hope, and ultimately, renewal.

Carnaval De Luz - the sixteenth studio album from U2 and the first album of new material from the band in nine years - will be released on November 13th, 2026, on Interscope Records.

Photo Credit: Michael Schwartz