What’s Happening with SOE?

No Bono, no peace sign! We have no chill right now. We’re on the edge over here, and not the kind that’s named David Evans. It’s the kind of edge you reach when you know U2 is oh-so-close to releasing their new album.

I have a theory and an estimation to share.

If the band’s photos from the last week are any indication – taken at various public places in Spain, on French Riviera boats and pretty much anywhere but a recording studio – it would almost seem like U2’s summer of busting their ass may be over for now. However, that might actually be a good thing. How so? Well, one theory is that SOE is basically complete and all the work now is post-production mixing, editing and other tasks belonging Ryan Tedder, Danger Mouse or whomever else is on board this time. Please note, I have no credible reason to believe this other than my own hopeful fan hunches. But it’s not a bad theory, right?

Here’s what I do know: Something will be happening in early fall (I know what you’re thinking: “Wow Brook, bold prediction…thanks for the insight, Captain Obvious-pants”). Yes, it’s pretty clear there’s something happening when U2 is booked for the iHeartRadio festival on September 23 (and because it’s a festival, that will mean probably 5 to 8 songs max – so obviously, at least one of them will be new). Then, there’s the Dreamforce conference just 2 weeks later on October 5. I think we can reasonably conclude this date will be the album drop. This is their thing now, guys: corporate event rollouts. That wasn’t a one-time thing in 2014. We just have to accept it.

Now, I don’t work for a big company that sends employees to Dreamforce (in fact, I’m embarrassed to say I had never heard of the event before) but apparently some of you do – so to those of you who will be going, I’ll be the first to say that the rest of us expect a minimum of 12 hours in uninterrupted live social media updates that day. Am I kidding? Do we ever kid about U2?*

It’s almost time, everyone; get ready for the laughing gas.

*Of course we do. We kid because we care.