I Will Bless U2 At All Times—By PJ and Kelly
Stargazer, watercolor by Kelly Eddington, 2026. Based on an Edge photo by our dear friend Pradip D. Patel and a stargazer lily photo by Russell Binns. (It’s not an Easter Lily, but Edge has always struck me as more of a stargazer.)
I Will Bless U2 At All Times: Our Review of Easter Lily
PJ DeGenaro
Kelly Eddington
Note: Everything in regular print was written by PJ, and everything in italics and indented was written by Kelly.
I want to start with a note about the new(!) Propaganda issue and the second Bono and Richard Rohr interview: Look, I love Bono. You all know this. He is one of vanishingly few earthlings who is always thoughtful, interesting, intelligent, safe for women and for everyone else. He is also self-deprecating almost to a fault. People who think he’s arrogant have never really heard or listened to anything he’s had to say.
But I am tired of hearing about the “Abrahamic” religions. I know they’re Bono’s thing, but the wars embroiling the planet right now aren't really about religion. They’re about power, vengeance, ancient clan rivalries, and stupidly macho politicians who want dominance. Also, there are roughly two billion people on this planet who are not Muslim, Christian or Jewish, and some of them aren’t living in the best conditions either.
Bono, let’s talk one of these days.
When you finally have that talk, can I, like, sit in the corner and maybe draw him?
We’re not the kind of fans who are capable of doing a deep dive into the scriptural references found in U2’s music. Other people already have that base covered, and if that’s what you’re looking for, please check out what Sherry has to say here. We’re approaching this from more of an outsider’s perspective.
My family attended a nondenominational Christian church when I was growing up, and once I left home, I didn’t bother to find a new church. I held on to my beliefs, albeit loosely. My knowledge of the Bible served me well in college. The bulk of historical western art depicts Biblical scenes, and I had an advantage because I knew the stories behind them. I went through a couple of crises of faith during the 00s and eventually married an atheist, and that pretty much makes me an atheist.
I believe in love, science, art, the beauty of nature, and that being a good person is its own reward. I believe that when we die, we return to a nonexistence similar to the time before we were born, and that’s okay. Religious art still moves me, especially when the genius and humanity of the artist is close to the surface. Even when I was a child, my main takeaway from the story of Jesus was that people will not tolerate someone who is radically different. Easter Lily is not the first time that I’ve found it difficult to relate to U2’s message. So, as usual, I approached these new songs with the mindset of a vegetarian at Thanksgiving. I may not be eating the main course, but I fully plan to load up on sides. And ask anyone: the sides are the best part of that meal.
I was just about to go to bed at midnight on Thursday/Friday when U2 dropped Easter Lily on us, and my initial reaction was, “Oh no, now I have to stay up and listen to it!” I was feeling burned out from the previous week, and because my second job is writing about U2, I was a little dismayed! More work? Thanks lads.
Most times, I wake at 4:00 in the morning, either because I’m inspired/nagged by artistic ideas or I’m worried that terrible things have happened overnight. Usually I can meditate myself back to sleep, but on Friday I had the distinct feeling that something strange was happening. A quick email check confirmed this. While I was excited about the arrival of a second surprise EP, I also admit to being a little dismayed. U2, can’t you see that I’m deeeeep inside a major painting that’s been on my board for a couple of months? Can’t you see that creating an illustration for our inevitable Achtoon reaction will mark the third time I’ve had to step away from this painting to accommodate you guys?
I wouldn't say I prefer this new EP to Days of Ash, necessarily, but I'm prepared to think of them as an album, with a Side A and a Side B, and each side with its own theme. Receiving twelve new U2 songs when you weren't expecting any is kind of a miracle! I mean, we got an album. And we’re still getting another album? Unprecedented in this century.
Yes. This is 55 total minutes of new music! I’m more than willing to think of the two EPs as a single album, especially since I don’t like how screamingly prominent “EP” is on the cover art for both of them. Not a fan of that ham-fisted typeface, either.
Now that you mention that typeface: Yes, it looks like something from the 1990s “grunge font” set.
Also, PJ and I obviously share an obsessive interest in U2. We’re not Catholic, but what if we were? What if, a month and a half ago, we whimsically decided to give up U2 for Lent? Yes! Let’s step away and come back in April refreshed and maybe with a more balanced mindset regarding this band? Cool. We’re giving up U2 for Lent, it is decided. And then, mere hours after we make that decision, they drop new music on us that we can’t listen to. And forty days later, they do it again—imagine the torture of giving up U2 for Lent this year!
Protestants do Lent too, by the way. But I am neither Catholic nor Protestant! So let’s get into it.
Song for Hal
A loving tribute to friend-of-U2 and consummate musical genius Hal Willner. Edge is playing just like Edge, which is what I love. He is also singing, which I also love! His solo singing is always a treat, and where Bono’s voice is whiskey, Edge’s is cream. His voice suits the strange lightness of this song. When he sings, “The song of the mockingbird don’t last long, they’re here and then they’re gone,” his guitar somehow becomes a rustling of wings.
I love that, too. This song is a great showcase for Edge’s vocal range and his ability to convey diverse emotions (those “ooh”s at 3:42!). One of my least favorite Edge moments has always been “Van Diemen’s Land,” which my 19 year-old ears found kind of nasal and a speed bump on Rattle and Hum. “Bono really does U2’s heavy lifting vocally,” I concluded. I know, blasphemy. Obviously, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I was completely wrong. Edge is their secret weapon, and I love that he gets to open this set of new material.
“Did you know he is close to God who makes his old friends laugh?” Lovely, if true!
Well, if that’s all it takes, I think you and I are in good shape because we make each other laugh whenever we chat. And we are so old.
We are truly, deeply old. Especially me. But oh, the magical little outro… I’m sure Mr. Willner is digging it, somewhere.
Yes, what a gorgeous tiny music box that is.
In A Life
I find this one the least interesting musically (so far). What also nags at me is that this song about friendship doesn’t give me a sense of who is being sung to. I can conjecture, but the specificity and the sense of person and place we got with “Cedarwood Road” and “Raised By Wolves” is missing. I do like the lines about the penny on the track (flattened but not cracked, just like some old friendships), and the narrator as a skipping stone. I might focus too much on lyrics, or I might focus on them in a way that others don’t, but I always need something visual or earthly to hang on to and it's not quite there. I might feel differently next week.
You’re the poet laureate of the U2 fandom, and I often wonder what you make of Bono’s lyrics from a poetic standpoint. Without instrumentation and a beautiful voice, do they hold up as poems?
I think even the best lyrics on earth suffer when they’re read as poems.
The skipping stone refrain moved me deeply. Is that Edge? It has the same impact as the “in science and in medicine” bridge from “Miracle Drug.” And if Edge is singing “I never achieved anything on my own,” how touching is that, coming from the band’s sonic architect? Anyway, I always feel oddly sorry for the rocks people throw into bodies of water. Those rocks spent eons shifting around beneath the waves before they reached the shore. Hearing Edge sing for them, well…have you guys tried these mashed potatoes? They’re absolutely divine.
Is that Edge singing that line about achievement? It’s such a Bono thought. In Surrender he said he was only one-quarter of an artist without the band.
I’m pretty sure it’s Edge! But yes, the sentiment behind it is pure Bono.
Just stuck my phone against my ear (at work). Confirmed: Edge.
Scars
Oh man, the bass and the drums. Yes, put those guys up front in the mix! Adam and Larry are wonderfully obtrusive on this EP, and it is time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kelly and I had a mind-meld about this song: It could well be Bono singing to himself. It doesn’t have to be, of course – we all have scars, some visible, some not. But as Lovers of Bono (not in the technical sense), we have been aware of his camouflaging himself under schlumpy outfits and onstage multi-jackets for more than 20 years. And then, toward the end of the Sphere residency — as he was looking up, looking skyward, his blackest night turning blue — he suddenly stripped down to a t-shirt, and then to just a vest. “The doors of your heart kicked open, can’t break what’s already broken.” Oh Bono. You’re a beauty. Don’t cover your scars.
My thoughts exactly. I wrote about the Miracle of the Vest here, and I’m glad he might be referencing his own scars. His voice is so vulnerable and delicate in places that I can almost visualize it as a tangible object. And “I'm the name on the form that demands your release,” is one of those classic Bono images that only he could come up with, and it hits me the same way “Edge is the light inside the paint” made me gasp the first time I read it.
And we go right into…
Resurrection Song
After I listened to Easter Lily for the first time, and finally got to bed, I dreamed I had my arm around Edge’s shoulders, supporting him while he played the most divine music. I think this song was stuck in my head. Those bells: no one but Edge can ring those bells. And then Larry kicks in at full power. What could be better?
I envy your coherent Edge dream. One of these days I’ll have to illustrate my dream where Edge sidled up to my kitchen island in the form of a white cartoon donkey and said, “All I’m askin’s a biscuit.” This line quickly entered the Kelly/PJ chat lexicon.
Text added by PJ. We don’t know who took the photo, sorry.
But back to the song. Something about it reminds me of Arcade Fire’s “No Cars Go.”
Musically, U2 is being U2 all over this song, in the very best way. The lyrics? I’m pretty agnostic, and not at all Christian, and after all these years Bono’s freeform (though thoughtful and serious) takes on Christianity and love are starting to wear on me. I don’t feel that I can love most people at this moment in history. My own credo would be something like, Do your best and try not to hurt anybody. Is that “love” enough to get to some kind of light? I hope so.
I think that’s a fine credo, Peej.
Easter Parade
My favorite so far. I adore hearing the bass so clearly and having it be such an important component in the song. And then it goes all Beatles-y! Kelly and I both hear psychedelic-era Beatles in the vocals, and even the bassline becomes McCartney-esque.
“Easter Parade” is my favorite too. It’s a crazy quilt of sound. The bass in the intro reminds me of “Magnificent,” and the piano brings Passengers’ “Beach Sequence” to mind (wild). By the time the first verse hits, all I can think of is the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Am I the only one?
The lyrics are spare compared with the rest. Bono has been lyrically silent for so long, and now that he has the mic again, wow does he have a lot to say. But with this song, he’s not so wordy.
I prefer the line “Something in me died, but I was no longer afraid” to the lovey-dovey stuff in the previous song. It’s a little more gritty. Maybe a little more Tanakh (Old Testament). And, “I can’t see you but I know you’re there” is a comfortable fit for an agnostic like me. But it’s the music — the combination of groove and soaring melody — that makes this such a great song. U2 at their best. That’s Edge on the kyries, is it not?
Gotta be. Exactly forty years after Mr. Mister, I think the statute of limitations has run out, and this can be sung again. It’s a 21st century version of the climax of “Gloria.” Do you ever encounter a line you can imagine a young Bono singing? For me it’s “On such a day, such a day as this.”
And another beautiful outro that pairs well with the moon photos from Artemis II.
Oooh! Yes!
COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord at All Times?)
Speaking of groove, what is up with “CHANGES THESE CHANGES” disrupting the perfectly good groove here? I guess I should expect unnecessary noises on U2 songs, ever since the duck-with-kazoo on “Love Is Bigger,” but this is jarring? Maybe that's the point.
I don’t hate it and, as Bono would say, I appreseeate its abrasiveness more than you do.
The changes will rain on our (Easter) parade, but we are not afraid? I like the question mark in the title. A little doubt is good. And I love how Bono morphs into Irish Leonard Cohen when he introduces us to the ambulance driver who keeps his shirt pressed and neat for the hurt and the hungry. “I got so many words in my head but I can’t find the lines” is probably the most honest line on the EP. That conversational, confessional voice; that’s what I want in my headphones.
These vignettes remind me of “Cedars of Lebanon,” both sonically and lyrically. Or maybe even “Walk on the Wild Side.” I loved the bit about the ambulance driver, too. That first verse about a mother whose daughter has (presumably) returned from battle with PTSD is particularly devastating.
The little buzz a few seconds after the song ends seems somehow significant, like a dial tone after the call has ended, maybe? What if that’s the first thing we’ll hear on The Real Actual U2 **LP** That Is Allegedly Colorful And It’s Coming In 2026 And They Really Mean It This Time?
I like to tell my husband Jeff that the forest surrounding our house is my religion. Every morning I feed the birds and squirrels and look out at the woods for a while. Yesterday as I listened to this song on my AirPods, I watched a blue jay take a sunflower seed in its beak, fly to a nearby oak tree, and perch beside his mate in a shaft of golden light. He presented the seed to her, and tilting her head, she received it happily. A tear rolled down my face. I will bless U2 at all times.