U2 have opened up about returning to their former school on Friday for a special performance marking 50 years since the band first came together, saying it was a "great experience".
Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr took to the stage at Mount Temple Comprehensive School to mark 50 years to the day since, on 25 September 1976, a group of teenagers gathered at Mullen's home on Dublin’s northside after he placed a notice on a school noticeboard looking for musicians.
Speaking to Brendan O'Connor on RTÉ Radio 1, The Edge said he was "quite nervous" about the performance.
"I was actually quite nervous which I wasn’t expecting because as I said to the lads before we went on, since no one has paid in, they can’t ask for their money back so we’ve actually nothing to worry about, we can go out there and just have a good time. But I was actually really nervous and midway through I Will Follow I just went 'this is amazing!’."
Watch: Bono says Grafton Street gig felt like 'winning the world cup'
Mullen said he wasn’t nervous and admitted it was "a great experience" to return to the school.
"I wasn’t nervous, I was really happy to be there. It was just a great experience. We’ve been trying for 50 years to get the band to downsize so we could do something like that, so we measured the stage about 50 years ago and said ‘we have to get back to that’."
Clayton joked about how he left private school for Mount Temple and said it felt like a promotion.
"I came in from private school and went to Mount Temple as a form of punishment. But before I’d gone to Mount Temple I’d always decided I wanted to have a career in music, and Mount Temple had a great history of choirs and musical stuff, so when I arrived at the school I couldn’t believe that you could wear your own clothes, that the teachers treated you respectfully, and that when we said we wanted to start a band they said ‘well, you can use one of the classrooms to rehearse in!’"
He added: "So, for me, even though it appeared to be a demotion, it was a promotion."
Mullen joked about putting a message on the school's noticeboard all those years ago looking for musicians and admitted the milestone had given him plenty to think about.
"I’ve had to reflect a lot over the last few days on some of the decisions that were made, and there were times were I had deep regret for sticking that notice on the noticeboard, and I have that feeling that I could of been a nobody," he laughed.
Also on Friday, U2 were honoured with a new €2 commemorative coin and played a surprise gig from the balcony of Bewley's on Dublin's Grafton Street.
Bono said the band's enduring relationship with its fans was something to be proud of and said it's their verison of "winning the World Cup".
"We're not the band you'd expect to come out of Ireland, let alone the north side of Dublin, just on the accents, the backgrounds, the mixed up religiousosity of it all. Yet, I think we were a clue to an Ireland that was coming which wasn't just defined by the old ways," he explained.
He added: "We are very, very proud of this and people's patience."
The singer expressed his gratitude to the city for facilitating the Grafton Street concert, where nearly 5,000 people gathered to see the band perform.
"It's feels for us like winning the World Cup to come home and to have a scene like that on Grafton Street I'm very grateful to the city for letting us do that last minute, and the guards and everyone showed up, that's the World Cup for us," he said.
U2's homecoming comes in the same week they announced Carnaval De Luz, their first album of new material in nine years, which will be released on 13 November.
Read more: U2 honoured with €2 coin marking 50th anniversary
U2 reflect on 'extraordinary' Mount Temple return
U2 play to packed Grafton Street crowd from Bewley's balcony
