U2 have secretly booked Croke Park for three huge summer concerts next
year, the Daily Mirror can reveal.

The Dublin rockers will salute their comeback after four years with
the huge shows to crowds of 80,000 each night.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jnr have already been in
contact with bosses of the GAA headquarters to provisionally book
their dates.

Last night a source close to the group revealed: “They want to rock
Croker for three nights.

“They have been planning this comeback for a long time and the
ultimate way to mark their homecoming is with a string of live shows
in Ireland’s most spectacular venue. They will have no problem selling
all the nights out and there’s even rumours that they could end up
playing for four or even five evenings - if they can get permission
for the extra nights.”

The stars will kick off their world tour early next year in America
and hit the road on an 18-month trek.

The tour will accompany the release of a new album in January - three
months later than they had originally planned.

Frontman Bono, 48, said the band are on a creative roll and don’t want
to stop prematurely. He added: “We’ve hit a rich song writing vein. It
gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not
coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now
but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be
found? It’s been maddening… there have been injuries and recoveries,
no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the
new year of 2009.”

The band said they are choosing from 50 to 60 tracks they’ve written
during sessions in Morocco, Dublin and France and they believe the new
album will be a departure for the band.

Bono added: “It’s a brand new chapter for us and everyone we’ve played
the tracks to has said that musically it feels like another departure.
The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three-piece at
their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But
what we’re about now is of the same order as the transition that took
us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby. We want 2009 to be our year
so we’re going to start making an impression very early on.”

U2 last performed three years ago when they staged three shows at
Croke Park as part of their Vertigo tour.

A source added: “This is going to be their biggest tour ever and the
Irish dates will be a high point.”

U2 in numbers

1,000 number of gigs band has played in career

80,000 Number of fans Croke Park will hold at each of the concerts

18mths How long the band’s next world tour will run for

11 number of studio albums U2 have released since 1980

- The Mirror, BY PAUL MARTIN and STEPHEN DUNNE

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