Irish rock band U2 returned to their former high school in Dublin on Friday, September 25, 2026, to deliver a surprise performance marking 50 years since the group first formed on the school premises.

The band—comprising vocalist Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.—played a 30-minute set in the schoolyard of Mount Temple Comprehensive School on Dublin's northside. Around 1,000 current students and staff, alongside invited guests and journalists, gathered to watch the performance at the location where the group last performed in 1978.

The surprise concert fell on the exact 50th anniversary of the band's initial gathering in September 1976. The meeting followed a handwritten notice posted on the school bulletin board by then 14-year-old Mullen seeking musicians to start a band. Addressing the crowd, Bono acknowledged Mullen as "the man who pinned the note on the noticeboard" and jokingly introduced Clayton as "the streaker of the green corridor."

U2 took the stage to Alice Cooper's "School's Out" before opening their set with their 1980 breakout track "I Will Follow." Their setlist included fan favorites such as "Vertigo," "Beautiful Day," and their 1979 debut single "Out of Control." The performance also featured the live debut of their new single "Silencio," taken from their upcoming studio album, Carnaval De Luz. For a performance of "One," the band was joined by young string players trained through the Music Generation program, which U2 co-funds alongside the Irish state, before closing with an encore of "With or Without You."

Speaking during the performance, Bono reflected on the band's origins and paid tribute to former staff members, including the late Rev. Jack Heaslip, who served as chaplain during the band's early career and subsequent world tours. "This sense that maybe all we needed was around us, just sort of under our feet, if we could see it in our mates, in our schoolmates, in our community," Bono told the students.

The anniversary performance coincided with additional national recognition, including the release of a €2 commemorative coin by the Central Bank of Ireland to mark five decades of the group's musical career.