U2: DECEMBER ALBUM; MAY TOUR

Interscope Records has set a 12/1 release date for U2’s 14th studio album, Songs of Experience, which will be followed by a 15-date arena tour of North America starting in May.

Three songs have been released to streaming services: “Get Out of Your Own Way,” "You’re The Best Thing About Me" and “The Blackout.”

U2 reports the lyrical approach of the album was inspired by advice Irish poet and novelist Brendan Kennelly gave to Bono: “write as if you’re dead.”

Songs of Experience is a companion piece to 2014’s Songs of Innocence and the band’s eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour will be a sequel to the 2015 edition. The tour starts 5/2 in Tulsa, Okla., and includes stops at The Forum on 5/15, Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on 5/26, Madison Square Garden on 6/25 and 6/29 at Newark, N.J.’s Prudential Center.

Tickets go on sale 11/20. Citi has teamed up with Live Nation for U2’s premier brand presale. Thanks to that partnership, the band has taken advantage of the Verified Fan initiative for the first time, with the goal of getting tickets directly into the hands of fans, as opposed to scalpers and bots.

Jacknife Lee and Ryan Tedder produced the album with Steve Lillywhite, Andy Barlow and Jolyon Thomas. The album features a cover image by Anton Corbijn of band-members’ teenage children Eli Hewson and Sian Evans.

The full track listing:
1. Love Is All We Have Left
2. Lights of Home
3. You’re The Best Thing About Me
4. Get Out of Your Own Way
5. American Soul
6. Summer of Love
7. Red Flag Day
8. The Showman (Little More Better)
9. The Little Things That Give You Away
10. Landlady
11. The Blackout
12. Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way
13. 13 (There is a Light)

THE TOUR
5/2 - Tulsa, Okla., BOK Center
5/4 - St. Louis, Scottrade Center
5/7 - San Jose, SAP Center
5/11 - Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena
5/15 - Los Angeles, The Forum
5/22 - Chicago, United Center
5/26 - Nashville, Bridgestone Arena
5/28 - Atlanta, Infinite Energy Arena
6/5 - Montreal, Bell Centre
6/9 - Uniondale, N.Y., NYCB Live, Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
6/13 - Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center
6/17 - Washington, D.C., Capital One Arena
6/21 - Boston, TD Garden
6/25 - New York, Madison Square Garden
6/29 - Newark, N.J., Prudential Center