U2 Gets On Its Boots for First All-New Full-Length Record in Nine Years, ‘Carnaval de Luz,’ With More Callbacks to Band’s ’90s Peaks Than ’80s Glories: Album Review

Nov 13, 2026 8:01am PT U2 Gets On Its Boots for First All-New Full-Length Record in Nine Years, ‘Carnaval de Luz,’ With More Callbacks to Band’s ’90s Peaks Than ’80s Glories: Album Review

By Chris Willman

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Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

ChrisWillman

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“The past and me have got to break up,” Bono sings in the verse that opens “Carnaval de Luz,” U2‘s first full-length album of all-new material in nine years. It sounds like a mission statement, doesn’t it? The singer doesn’t linger long on combating nostalgia or breaking out of ingrained patterns, or whatever he means to suggest there. But you can rest assured, if you’ve ever read any U2 interviews this century, that the band is constantly wrestling with its legacy and how to move forward with relevance, just as certainly as Jacob wrestled the angel in “Bullet the Blue Sky.” They have been known to overthink it all, and impatient fans have been known to want to to say: Just put down your pencils and turn in your work, boys!

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