A half-century after 14-year-old Larry Mullen Jr. taped up a "drummer seeks musicians" note at Mount Temple High School in Dublin, U2 returned to celebrate the anniversary with current students, staff members, and the band's former teachers. On a balcony overlooking a crowded Grafton Street, U2 opened with "I Will Follow," then performed songs including "Vertigo," "Beautiful Day," and "One," Rolling Stone reports, as well as "Silencio" from the band's upcoming album. The encore was "With or Without You." Students stuck their heads out of classroom windows to watch, per the AP. Bono pointed to the science classrooms and said to them, "We escaped the lab—how's the experiment going for you?"
Fans came from other countries, including the US, after guessing the unadvertised performance would happen. "When I found out that U2 were going to be 50, I decided to book a hostel for this weekend," said a man from Denmark, per the Irish Times. "I knew there were people going to be here and we're all big fans, so there's going to be a big party anyway." In addition to singer Bono (Paul Hewson), bassist Adam Clayton and guitarist David Evans (the Edge) answered the note posted by Mullen. "It's hard to imagine life, what would have been, without that," Bono said, per the Irish Sun.
He called out former teachers, including the Rev. Jack Heaslip, who went on tour as the band's spiritual adviser. "It continues to be the humblest and the hardest lesson for the four of us to be reminded that you need to be taught," Bono told the current students. He said everyone at Mount Temple, including his schoolmates, helped the group make it through the following half-century. "So we want to thank them," he said, "and then there's the wider community around this rock 'n' roll high school."
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