U2 confirm dates for six Irish shows in November

Band to perform two gigs in Belfast’s SSE Arena and four in Dublin’s 3Arena

The song 'Cedarwood Road' on U2's new album was inspired by Bono's childhood address. He grew up in Number 10, and current occupant Tom Ryan provides a warm welcome to curious visitors. Video: Ronan McGreevy

U2 will play six Irish shows in November, with two concerts in Belfast and four in Dublin as part of their Innocence and Experience tour.

The band will be performing in the SSE Arena in Belfast (formerly the Odyssey) on November 18th and 19th, and in Dublin’s 3Arena on November 23rd, 24th, 27th and 28th.

Tickets for all six shows will go on sale at 9am on Monday, September 14th, and will be limited to two per purchaser.

They are priced at from £30 to £165 for Belfast, and from €30 to €185 for Dublin.

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"It is great to be able to play the whole island of Ireland on this tour in particular, it was important to us to get to Belfast - and those shows should be something special," Bono told The Irish Times.

"Finally we are getting home to Dublin, and I for one cannot wait to be able to play the song Cedarwood Road to Cedarwood Road.

“The Dublin shows are always like a U2 tribal gathering. We have had to quite literally rebuild the stage set for the 3Arena, but we got there.

“We can only do the four shows in Dublin because of what is known as ‘avails’ – the venue is being used on other dates. These shows will be extra special for us.”

The Edge said finding venues to take the show was actually “quite tricky, and we’re grateful to our overworked crew who finally cracked the reconfiguring to fit these venues”.

Face value prices

The floor tickets (standing) are being sold with the Paperless Ticket system to ensure fans have access to face-value prices, and a limited number of student-priced tickets will be available. All details on how the cheaper-priced Paperless ticket system works will be at U2.com/tour.

Some €2 million from the Irish tickets sales will go to Music Generation, a national music education programmes set up by U2 and The Ireland Funds in 2009 to help children and young people access free musical tuition at a local level.

With sections of the show dealing with Dublin in the 1970s when U2 came of age, the impact of the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings and a virtual recreation of the Ballymun Road where Bono grew up, the tour is the most Irish-centric the band has ever done.

The tour opened in Vancouver in May, and after a North American leg with guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga among others, it arrived in Europe last weekend and will now head to Belfast and Dublin for its closing dates.

Brian Boyd

Brian Boyd

Brian Boyd, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes mainly about music and entertainment