U2 have returned to their former school in Dublin for a special performance marking 50 years since the band first came together.
Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr took to the stage at Mount Temple Comprehensive School shortly after 2pm, performing for students and staff at the school where their story began.
It comes 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 board looking for musicians.
Those teenagers would go on to become one of the world's biggest bands. Half a century later, the four members made their way back up the familiar driveway at Mount Temple to perform for a new generation of students.
Before they took to the stage, Alice Cooper's School's Out blared over the loudspeakers to huge cheers.
U2 opened with I Will Follow, and also played Vertigo, Beautiful Day and Out of Control, which appeared on their first release, U2-3, in 1979.
They were joined on the small stage in the school yard by young musicians from Music Generation for One, and also worked a couple of lines from Elbow's One Day Like This into the set.
Addressing the students from the stage, Bono reflected on the band's beginnings at Mount Temple and the community around the school.
"This sense that maybe all we needed was around us, just sort of under our feet, if we could see it in our mates, in our schoolmates, in our community," he said.
He also paid tribute to the late Fr Jack Heaslip, who travelled with U2, before thanking those involved in Music Generation.
"This island is full of song and music and mischief, and we are so proud to be Irish," Bono told the crowd.
They also gave the first live performance of their new single Silencio. The band closed the surprise gig with one of their biggest hits, With or Without You.
Excitement had been building in the school halls all morning, with rumours of the band's return circulating during the week.
The homecoming comes a day after U2 announced Carnaval De Luz, their first album of new material in nine years, which will be released on 13 November.
More to follow...
