U2 play a secret Tate Modern gig, and Bono dedicates it to Brian Eno

U2 have spent the autumn turning up where nobody expects them. In September they went back to their old school in Dublin, 50 years after the band formed. Then came a free pop-up gig on Dublin's Grafton Street. On Tuesday 3 November, they pulled off their strangest trick yet: a secret show at London's Tate Modern, ten days before their 16th album, Carnaval de Luze, lands on 13 November. Here are the six moments that stood out.

1. The location was a last-minute secret

Fans only found out where the gig was a few hours before it began. Even then, you could only get in by winning a ballot. The show was recorded for the BBC and will be broadcast on TV and on iPlayer, the BBC's streaming service, later this month.

2. They played in a concrete "fish tank"

Forget the huge Turbine Hall, where PJ Harvey and Kraftwerk have performed. U2 played in The Tanks, a 400-capacity brutalist space under the Blavatnik Building that usually hosts experiential exhibitions. Bono playfully called it the "fish tank". There were no giant LED screens, and phones were locked away in pouches. Noel Gallagher and Lily Allen were in the audience, while art students sat on beanbags at the foot of the stage.

3. Brian Eno's art lit up the walls

Brian Eno produced U2's best-selling albums The Joshua Tree (1987) and Achtung Baby (1991), among others. His generative artwork 77 Million Paintings, made with software from 2006, was projected across the bare walls in shifting colours and squiggles. "We're here to celebrate the work of Brian tonight," Bono said. Every song in the set was produced by Eno.

4. "Bad" made a surprise comeback

The brooding classic had not appeared in a U2 set since 2019, and it was missing from their Las Vegas Sphere residency. This time it came second in the set and sounded as passionate as ever. Bono's "I'm wide awake" lines now come with a little more clarity and purpose.

5. Bono told a Louise Bourgeois story

Bono recalled the late French-American artist, whose 30ft bronze spider sculpture Maman greeted visitors when Turbine Hall opened in 2000. He said Adam Clayton bought his first Bourgeois work in the 1990s, and that he once sang "Amazing Grace" for her at her apartment without knowing the second verse. He improvised then, and again on stage, making a trumpet from his hands.

6. The new songs held their own

U2 recently released the Days of Ash and Easter Lily EPs, and the new songs "Can't Stop Us Now" and "The Greatest Show on Earth" sat comfortably next to "Beautiful Day", "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "One". Larry Mullen Jr. is back with Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton after missing the 2023-24 Sphere shows following neck surgery.

Next up are the album, an NFL Thanksgiving halftime show later this month and a world tour running from 2027 into 2028.