U2 Release Easter Lily EP on Good Friday in Deeply Personal New Chapter
Dublin rock legends U2 have released their second EP of 2026, Easter Lily, on Good Friday -- a deeply personal six-track record exploring friendship, faith, mortality, and the possibility of renewal.
The EP, released on 2 April 2026, follows Days of Ash, which arrived on Ash Wednesday in February and addressed themes of global conflict. Where that record looked outward, Easter Lily turns inward, with Bono describing it as an exploration of the resilience of relationships, the fight for friendship, the survival of faith, and whether answers can be found in religious ceremonies and rituals.
A Record Rooted in Loss and Hope
The EP opens with Song for Hal, a COVID-19 lockdown lament sung by The Edge and dedicated to the band's late friend and music producer Hal Willner, who would have turned 70 on Easter Monday. The track includes the lyric: Did you know he is close to God who makes his old friends laugh? -- a line that sets the tone for an EP preoccupied with grief, memory, and the bonds that outlast loss.
Other highlights include Scars, which begins with a distinctive Adam Clayton bassline and features Bono singing Don't cover your scars to a struggling friend, and Resurrection Song, which reframes The Edge's cosmic guitar work as Afrobeat while Bono sings about celestial love. The closing track, COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?), produced by Brian Eno, is described by reviewers as the most surprising piece on the record -- a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war, featuring a shimmering synth bed and a gospel refrain.
Critical Reception
The Irish Times has described Easter Lily as an endearingly honest, questing record about friendship, faith, art, meaning and, appropriately for Easter, death and the possibility of rebirth. Reviewers have noted that the EP format suits the band, allowing them to sound less concerned with audience size and more focused on using music to explore their relationship with the world.
The title is a nod to Patti Smith's 1978 album Easter, which Bono has said gave him hope as a young man growing up in Dublin.
What's Next
Bono has reassured fans that a full-length album remains in progress, describing it as a noisy, messy, unreasonably colourful album to play LIVE. The band views the two EPs as side detours on the way to the main record, which is anticipated in late 2026. Both EPs are digital-only and accompanied by special editions of the band's fan magazine, Propaganda.
Read the full Irish Times review at The Irish Times.
