U2 crashed the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday night (Nov. 14), opening the show at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater with a surprise two-song set a day after releasing their new album, Carnaval De Luz.
The band weren’t on the bill — they were inducted back in 2005, their first year of eligibility — but they kicked off the night for a class that included Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.
They opened with “Silencio,” the album’s second single, joined by a line of performers dressed as riot police and carrying shields, then closed with “Pride (In the Name of Love),” a fixture of their live shows for four decades.
Carnaval De Luz, out Friday (Nov. 13) via Interscope, is U2’s 16th album and their first full-length of new material since 2017’s Songs of Experience. It was produced by longtime collaborator Jacknife Lee, and its title translates as “Carnival of Light.” The cover, showing the band walking single file along a beach with Bono out front in a top hat, is a clear nod to Abbey Road.
The album closes with “Torn,” a duet with Dolly Parton that her representative has confirmed is her final recorded vocal performance. Parton died in August at 80. U2 wrote the song with Parton and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid, and have described it as a country song about broken family ties.
The release also gives U2 a shot at extending a Billboard 200 record. Songs of Experience was their eighth No. 1, making them the only group to top the chart in four consecutive decades. They’ve also notched two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s, both from 1987’s The Joshua Tree. Carnaval De Luz’s first-week numbers will be reflected on the Billboard 200 dated Nov. 28.
It’s been a busy 50th anniversary year for the band, who also released two six-song EPs, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, and played a surprise street show on Dublin’s Grafton Street in September. The Edge has called the new album “a messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs,” while Bono promised “loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms.”
The ceremony airs Dec. 8 from 8-11 p.m. ET on ABC and streams on Disney+ the following day.
