Step right up, step right up: U2 is bringing The Greatest Show On Earth tour to the U.K. and Europe in 2027, announcing on Thursday (Oct. 29) a new run of stadium dates spanning April through July.
Billed as Carnaval De Luz Presents: The Greatest Show On Earth, the leg will launch Apr. 26 at Stockholm’s Strawberry Arena, with British rockers Wolf Alice serving as support. The itinerary includes stops in Paris, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, Berlin and Milan, culminating with two nights at Milan’s Stadio San Siro on July 5 and 6.
U2 will also play two shows at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 18 and 19. As per a press release, Spanish dates — and a further North American trek — are expected to be announced soon.
The announcement follows a sellout of initial Latin American shows, which begin Feb. 23 at Mexico City’s Estadio GNP Seguros before continuing to Brazil and Argentina. Support for this portion of the tour will come from Beck.
Tickets for the U.K. and European dates will first be available through the U2.com subscriber presale beginning Monday (Nov. 2), at 10 a.m. local time. Visa cardholders will have access to a separate presale on Wednesday (Nov. 4), from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time. Further ticketing information can be found at the band’s official website.
In a new press statement attributed to band members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, the band said: “‘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.”
The Greatest Show On Earth tour follows U2’s acclaimed residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas, where the group played 40 dates across six months from September and reimagined 1991 album Achtung Baby through an immersive, high-technologu production.
Reporting from opening night, Billboard’s Katie Atkinson described the four-piece as “exactly the right band to welcome the mind-blowing space,” adding that the show was “magic” and “U2’s music and message always remained the focal point throughout the two-hour set – even when a pop-culture kaleidoscope of images scrolled up the 366-foot screen in rapid succession.”
Last month, U2 marked their 50th anniversary as a group with a lunchtime performance for students and teachers at Mount Temple Comprehensive, the Dublin school attended by the members, followed by a surprise performance on the city’s Grafton Street.
The band have also confirmed that plans for their new show to come to Ireland in 2028 are in the works. “We can’t say too much about the next leg of The Greatest Show On Earth – we’re still figuring it out – but what we can say is, we’ll be wrapping it up in Ireland,” said The Edge. “There’s nowhere else we’d want to be for that party.”
Before hitting stadiums, U2 will go very small next week for an exclusive, intimate gig for BBC Music on Tuesday (Nov. 3) at an as-yet-unannounced venue in central London for a select group of fans.
U2 stand as one of the most successful rock acts on the Billboard 200, with eight No. 1 albums on the chart, beginning with The Joshua Tree in 1987. On the Billboard Hot 100, meanwhile, the band reached the top 10 with several singles, including “With Or Without You,” which topped the chart for three weeks in 1987 and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which also reached No. 1 that year.
Here are U2’s 2027 U.K. and European tour dates:
April 26: Stockholm, Sweden @ Strawberry Arena
April 28: Stockholm, Sweden @ Strawberry Arena
May 5: Paris, France @ Stade de France
May 8: Paris, France @ Stade de France
May 27: Lisbon, Portugal @ Estádio da Luz
June 5: Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Johan Cruijff ArenA
June 6: Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Johan Cruijff ArenA
June 18: London, England @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 19: London, England @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
June 30: Berlin, Germany @ Olympiastadion
July 5: Milan, Italy @ Stadio San Siro
July 6: Milan, Italy @ Stadio San Siro
