U2 fans wonder how many albums the band has left in them – and are not expecting much new work

Fans of the legendary Irish rock band U2 are wondering how many more albums Bono and the group have left in them.

While fans are not holding their breath when it comes to new material, they do remain hopeful of future tours around the world. Their latest song release came last year, Atomic City, and the band has exclusively played Las Vegas’ Sphere from September 2023 to March 2024. The band has not performed since March 2, 2024, and fans are hoping to hear news of a tour or album soon. A post to the r/U2 subreddit saw fans share their hopes of new material, or at the very least a stadium tour, though some were wondering how long the band had left as an active unit.

A fan asked: “How many albums does U2 have left in them? Not counting compilation and live albums, how many albums will U2 release for the rest of their career?” Fans believe they have the answer to how many albums are left in the band’s future, and it’s not looking good for those who want several more releases.

One user suggested: “I’ll take a swing at this: one new one, one live one and one of unreleased material. It’s amazing they’re still together so anything we get should be appreciated (even if it’s a bit lame). “

Another compared U2 to The Rolling Stones and wrote: “I would say two studio ones, but one of them would likely have to be crafted out of high quality studio leftovers a la Tattoo You.” A third added: “I hope many. But looking at it in a realistic lens, maybe two.”

Most fans believe two is the magic number when it comes to the future of U2’s album work. One added: “I’m guessing two as well. While we as fans would like them to go (at least) to the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Boy, I don’t know if the band themselves feel that way.

“I do feel that they might like to get to the fiftieth anniversary of their becoming a band in Larry Mullen’s kitchen (thus, September 2026) before scaling things back, but that’s based solely on intuition.”

A separate user suggested there is a backlog of unreleased studio recordings that could be released over time. They suggested: “They have a lot of sessions they never finished. After almost twenty years in the making (eighteen, since sessions began in Fez 2007), Songs of Ascent is long awaited. Many speculate that it will be the last U2 album, but I don’t know if it’s entirely speculation or if there is something credible behind it.

“They’re currently working on two projects, I think: a fresh start on sessions for the next U2 album, and then Bono and The Edge have teamed up with Brian Eno to explore Irish traditonal folk music (i.e., not a U2 project, but some have assigned it the working title Passengers: Volume II — this one has NOT been confirmed to be a follow-up to the 1995 side project, though).

“I’m getting tired of repeating all the stuff that’s been shelved over the last twenty years, but yeah. I don’t think this next one (anticipated for late 2025) will be the last U2 album. I won’t be surprised if there might be material that’s not going to end up on an album but not bad enough to discard or banish to a vault forever (similar to the shadow album we got last year).”

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2’s album release from 2004, received a twentieth anniversary release in 2024, with studio cuts and extra pieces making up How to Reassemble an Atomic Bomb.