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U2 Gets Invitation to Play Mexico City’s Zócalo After Filming ‘Street of Dreams’ Video
Clara Brugada invited U2 to play Mexico City’s Zócalo after the band filmed the video for “Street of Dreams” in the capital.
U2 received an official invitation to perform at Mexico City’s Zócalo after meeting with Clara Brugada, the head of government of Mexico City, during the band’s visit to film the video for “Street of Dreams.”
On Tuesday, May 13, Brugada met the Irish quartet in the city’s Historic Center while filming was underway. In a video posted to her social media, she handed Bono a document and invited the band to play at the main public square. “This is an invitation for you to play in our wonderful square, which is the Zócalo,” she said in Spanish. “You are welcome, and we would love it very much.”
Bono responded by saying the band wanted to open its next tour in the capital. “We’re working on that,” he said in English. “In our dreams, we could begin our tour here.” He added, “We love the city.”
The meeting took place at the Casino Metropolitano in the Historic Center, a spokesperson for the city government confirmed to Billboard Español. During the visit, Brugada also presented each member of the band with an axolotl figure, the amphibian native to central Mexico, as seen in the video.
Later, Brugada posted photos from the meeting and called U2’s visit “a celebration of music, connection and the excitement that is felt in every corner of this city.” She added: “We are a city open to the world, vibrant and full of stories that are shared from the stage to the streets.”
The invitation came as the group continued filming “Street of Dreams,” a song set to appear on their upcoming album, due later this year. On Wednesday, they took part in the second day of filming. The day before, the band performed the track from the roof of a graffiti-covered school bus decorated by artist Chavis Mármol, playing to a large crowd in the Historic Center. It also marked Larry Mullen Jr.’s first appearance with his bandmates after years away from the stage while recovering from neck and back surgeries.
Mexico has long been significant for U2. The band’s performances there include the 1997 Popmart Tour show captured in Popmart: Live From Mexico City. Their last concert in Mexico City came during the 30th-anniversary run for The Joshua Tree in October 2017, only three weeks after the earthquake that hit central Mexico.
The Zócalo remains one of the most prominent public spaces in the country, a site where politics, religion, culture and social movements overlap. It is the second-largest public square in the world, behind only Tiananmen Square in Beijing. In March, Shakira set the attendance record for a free concert there, drawing 400,000 people to the Plaza de la Constitución, the square’s official name.
“This is an invitation for you to play in our wonderful square, which is the Zócalo,” Brugada said in Spanish. “You are welcome, and we would love it very much.”
