U2 & Amazon Music Team Up for Immersive Online Radio ‘Experience’ Leading Up to New Album Release

U2 has partnered with Amazon Music for a new online radio broadcast leading up to the band’s new album, Songs of Experience, release on Friday. 

The U2 Experience is the first of its kind for the tech company, airing a mix of historical and new exclusive content produced by Amazon Music, as well as the band’s biggest hits and live recordings of songs from The Joshua Tree and Songs of Experience recorded during The Joshua Tree Tour 2017. The programming is designed to create a chronology of the band’s career as told through commentary and interviews spanning back more than 40 years. 

Most recently, the audio show will feature an exclusive interview with U2 and Amazon Music’s global head of programming, Alex Luke, which took place during a stop in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on tour this Fall. 

The U2 Experience broadcast begins Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET and ends when the new album is released on Friday, available to all customers with an Amazon Music account in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Austria. An Amazon Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription is not required. The U2 Experience is available online at amazon.com/theu2experience, on the Amazon Music app and — for Prime or Music Unlimited subscribers in the U.S. and U.K. — via Alexa on Amazon Echo devices by asking “Alexa, play The U2 Experience.”

“I hope you don’t need to know anything about U2, or anything about the context, to enjoy [Songs of Experience],” U2 guitarist, The Edge, said in a statement. “I think it’s an album of just classic songs, great melodies great hooks, great lyrics. I think there’s very few bands in the history of rock and roll that have been around and made as many albums as we have with the same lineup…that perspective is unique, you know? On the last record [Songs of Innocence] we wrote about where we came from. How this band came together, Dublin of the late 70s early 80s, and this new record is the companion album. But it’s from this current perspective now… So many years later, what have we learned?”

“Few bands have as storied a career as U2, and we saw an incredible opportunity to build a broadcast for their fans,” added Luke. “This all goes back to voice innovation, and what we’ve built is an immersive, ephemeral listening experience for our customers, with a wealth of interviews and content going back nearly 40 years.”