You Know All That Pre-Release Album Hype We’ve Been Getting from U2? Never Mind. No Album in 2014.

It sure smelled like U2 was getting geared up with an album release.  The soundtrack song.  The Super Bowl commercial.  The new single/video.  The Academy Award performance. The rumours of a late winter/spring/late spring/summer release.

Yeah, well, never mind.  Billboard says they’ve heard from multiple sources that U2 is going back into the studio to continue work on…well, something.

The story is that any new album won’t be ready until next year.  Here’s the quote:   “It seems to be taking longer for them to finish an album as they get older, but the great thing about U2 is that the whole of a record is always better than the sum of its parts.  That magic that the band always seems to capture … they have yet to capture it.”

Others may wonder about how dynamics have changed with new manager Guy Oseary.  What’s happening with Live Nation?  Are they stumped about how to follow up the 360 Tour? Meanwhile, tinfoil hat types say that this is a disinformation campaign ahead of a shock and awe surprise release a la Beyonce or Bowie.  Or maybe they really are out of creative juice.

If it’s true that there won’t be any U2 album and tour in 2014, the entire industry is pissed.  Superstar releases and tours are in very short supply these days.