U2 mark 50 years with concert at their Dublin school
The 22‑time Grammy winners returned to Mount Temple School and played a short set of their hits for pupils and teachers.
U2 marked their 50th anniversary with a surprise concert at Mount Temple School in north Dublin — the same school where the members first started playing together as teenagers. The band performed a 35-minute set for current pupils that included hits such as "It’s A Beautiful Day" and "One."
From a noticeboard to a reunion
The 22-time Grammy winners formed in September 1976 after Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a handwritten note on the Mount Temple noticeboard seeking musicians to form a band. On 25 September the group — joined by Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton — recreated one of their early shows by echoing a 1978 rooftop performance at the school’s boiler house.
Hundreds of pupils left class early and filled the schoolyard, many holding handmade placards reading "It’s A Beautiful Day No School," to watch the set and sing along. Teachers also gathered at windows and recorded the event on their phones.
When Bono appeared on stage and pointed toward one of the school buildings, he quipped, "Is that the science lab?" The remark drew laughter from the assembled students and staff.
News of the low-key show spread quickly across the neighbourhood, prompting people to cluster outside the school gates to listen after word of the secret performance leaked. The appearance was framed as both a celebration of the band’s origins and a gift to the community where their story began.
Organisers said the short set deliberately referenced U2’s early days and the rooftop moment that helped launch their decades-long career. For the pupils it offered a rare chance to see a globally renowned band perform in the place where it all started.
Photo: DPA)
