It all started with a piece of paper stuck to a noticeboard in a school in Dublin: “Drummer looking for musicians to form a band.”
The year was 1976. The drummer was Larry Mullen Jr. and the school was Mount Temple Comprehensive School. Fifty years later, U2 are back where their story began.
Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. appeared in the schoolyard in front of about 900 students to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band's birth and symbolically open a new chapter, a few weeks before the release of their new album, "Carnaval de Luz", scheduled for November 13.
And for a band that has filled the world's largest stadiums, the stage this time was intentionally simple: no megastages, no giant screens, and no electronic spectacle. Just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.
"We still feel like a school band," Bono told the students.
The concert began where a trip back in time should have begun: with "I Will Follow", the song from their first album Boy from 1980. Then came "Vertigo", "Beautiful Day", "Out of Control" and "Silencio", the song that heralds the new album.
But one of the most special moments came when 32 school students, part of the new "Here" orchestra, took up violins, violas and cellos and accompanied U2 on "One".
"This island is full of music and I am incredibly proud to be Irish," Bono told the students.
The story began at this school. After Larry Mullen's announcement, the boys gathered for the first time at his home at 60 Rosemount Avenue, just a short walk from Mount Temple. Five decades later, that house has become a place of pilgrimage for fans.
During the day, the band visited other places of its history in Dublin, while in the evening another surprise came: U2 came out again to play on the city streets.
The school concert also had an unplanned ending. When it seemed like everything was over, the students' screams brought the four musicians back onto the stage.
Encore: "With or Without You".
Fifty years ago, a teenager was looking for some friends to form a group. On Friday, four of them returned to the same school to show 900 teenagers what can happen when someone responds to a notice posted on the wall.
