I have been taking a journey through U2’s history in different forms from reading to visual media and of course their music.

This stroll down where the streets have no name came about just after the release of Bono’s movie Songs Of Surrender and the realisation 2026 marks 50 years since the band formed 25th September 1976)along with the small thought that music and memories are inherently linked as I remember each moment I heard their songs(I know I am publishing this rough piece now but felt like the 49th anniversary  was a nice odd number hence the title.

My journey with U2 started in 1991 in the form of Achtung Baby when I first discovered Mysterious Ways on a sunday morning music video charts show RTR Countdown a little while later the other big singles from the album hit the airwaves/chart shows One,Even Better Than the Real Thing, and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses and then it went quiet.

Their songs from then on would pop in and out of my life over the years until 2000 when their first single Beautiful Day from that year's album All That You Can’t Leave Behind hit the airwaves. A couple of years later their 1990-2000 Best of was released and it was all downhill from then.

From this point in time U2 stayed on my musical radar and when whispers of new album was on the horizon all ears were in their direction.

The weekend leading up to the release of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (22nd November) was a feast of U2 festivities on NZ’s music channel C4 which included every U2 music video released to that point, the film Rattle And Hum, Live At Slane Castle and behind the scenes of the newly released Vertigo music video.

The thing about U2 is the way they weaved/blended their faith with their own styles of music throughout time whether it be Rock, Pop, Dance, Synth, or whatever the next expression of the band's music will be.

I want to close of the article with one to two lyrics of theirs that stands out 

“In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows But my sorrows they'd learned to swim” “Until The End Of The World”

“Its early fall There’s a cloud on the New York skyline Innocence dragged across a yellow line These are the hands that built America” Hands That Built America”