Hot on the heels of Madonna‘s record-breaking Copacabana show, Brazil wants to court other high-profile names such as U2, who just wrapped up their Sphere residency in Las Vegas.
On May 4, Madonna played her biggest show ever. The free concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro drew a crowd of 1.6 million. That's an impressive feat for an artist who has done it all.
Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, is now lobbying for U2 to play in Brazil after Madonna's show.
“There are a lot of people asking for Beyoncé, asking for Michael Jackson's show in Las Vegas with a hologram, there are all kinds of requests, strong pressure,” Paes said (via O Globo). “But I just want to express that my lobby will be for U2.”
This would be monumental for the band. They have played Glastonbury and Slane Castle before, but the Copacabana Beach is a whole new game.
It has also been years since U2 last played in Brazil. Per U2Gigs, their last show took place on October 25, 2017, on their “Joshua Tree” anniversary tour. The band played four shows in São Paulo, Brazil, to close out the 2017 tour. Previously, they had visited Brazil on their “PopMart,” “Vertigo,” and “360” tours.
U2 has since embarked on the “Experience + Innocence” tour in 2018, another leg of the “Joshua Tree” tour in 2019, and the Sphere residency since their last shows in Brazil. The country is overdue for a visit from the band.
Who are U2?
U2 is a legendary rock band known for their iconic hits such as “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and “With or Without You.” In their legendary career, the band has won 22 Grammys. They have been nominated for a grand total of 46 throughout their career.
Recently, they have been on the road a lot. Since 2015's “Innocence + Experience” tour, U2 has embarked on three concert tours and a concert residency. The 2017 and 2019 leg of the “Joshua Tree” tour went international including U2's Brazil shows.
Their Sphere residency began on September 29, 2023. U2 played 40 shows at the high-tech venue in Las Vegas through March 2, 2024. Larry Mullen Jr. is still recovering from health issues, so he did not play with U2 at the Sphere. Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton were joined by Bram van den Berg.
The residency was centered around their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. For the first time ever, the band played the album in full for the first time. As a result, the band dusted off deep cuts such as “So Cruel” and “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World” for the first time in decades.
U2 also released their fifteenth studio album in 2023, Songs of Surrender. The album tied in with Bono's memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story.
It features 40 songs from the band's back catalog that were re-arranged and re-recorded for the album. Songs of Surrender marks the first time U2 recorded an album made up of non-original songs.
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