U2 Drop Second Surprise EP in Six Weeks With 'Easter Lily'

U2 are on a tear. The band dropped 'Easter Lily,' a six-song EP, on Good Friday — April 3, 2026 — marking their second surprise release in roughly six weeks. It follows 'Days of Ash,' which arrived in late February with a more politically charged edge. This time, the band went inward.

Where 'Days of Ash' looked outward at the state of the world, 'Easter Lily' pulls from what the band describes as a more personal, private place. The EP tackles faith, friendship, loss, hope, and the kind of big spiritual questions that tend to surface when everything else feels unsteady. The Good Friday timing is no accident — the whole thing is steeped in themes of ritual, ceremony, and renewal.

"It's a time that has our band digging deeper into our lives to find a wellspring of songs to try meet the moment," Bono told Consequence of Sound. He laid out the EP's central questions with characteristic intensity: "Are our own relationships up to these challenging times? How hard do you fight for friendship? Can our faith survive the mangling of meaning that those algorithms love to reward?"

The EP is streaming now on YouTube and all major platforms. No exclusive windows, no paywall games — just a straight drop.

“What's interesting here isn't just the music itself but the strategy behind it.”

What's interesting here isn't just the music itself but the strategy behind it. U2 are bypassing the traditional album cycle entirely, using short-form releases to stay in the conversation while they continue building toward something bigger. Bono confirmed the band is still working on a full studio album meant to be performed live. "We still look to vivid rock n roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens," he told Consequence of Sound.

Two EPs in six weeks from a band that once took years between albums is a genuine shift in approach. It suggests U2 are treating this period less like a buildup to one big statement and more like an ongoing creative conversation — dropping material as it feels ready, matching the mood of the moment rather than waiting for some grand rollout.

The big question now is when that full album actually lands, and whether these EPs end up as standalone pieces or early sketches of a larger picture. Either way, U2 clearly aren't waiting around.