Given global affairs as of late, where everything seems on the edge of collapse, it’s no shock that U2 returns with a song that wonders where we are and what the future holds.
“The Blackout” is a song that not only questions the state of the world but the band’s place in it. “A dinosaur wonders why it still walks the earth, yeah/A meteor promises it’s not gonna hit, yeah,” Bono sings. Adam Clayton knocks out one of his catchiest, earth-shaking bass lines yet. The Edge plays some buzzed, warped guitar tones, fusing the industrial growl of Achtung Baby with the group’s early post-punk days.
Then the chorus blows the song wide open, with that type of lifting rock chorus that is U2’s bread and butter. “When the lights go out/And you throw yourself about/In the darkness where you learn to see,” Bono shouts over a beat that will get you bouncing. I doubt they’ll be anyone left sitting in the stands when the four-piece play this one on tour.
“The Blackout” is from U2’s forthcoming album, Songs of Experience, due out later this year.