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U2 Gets an Invitation to Play Mexico City’s Zócalo After Filming New Video in the Capital
After filming “Street of Dreams” in Mexico City, U2 received an official invitation to perform at the Zócalo from Clara Brugada.
U2’s latest visit to Mexico City has already produced a new single, a music video shoot in the Historic Center and now an official invitation to play the Zócalo for free. During a meeting with Clara Brugada, the head of government of Mexico City, Bono said the band would like to launch its next tour in the city, adding another layer to a relationship that has long carried real weight for the Irish quartet.
The invitation came on Tuesday, May 13, while the band was filming the video for “Street of Dreams” in the streets of the Historic Center. Brugada handed the group a document in front of the cameras, as seen in a <video> she posted on social media. Bono, who accepted the letter, was the one speaking for the group as Brugada extended the offer in Spanish: “This is an invitation for you to play in our wonderful square, which is the Zócalo. You are welcome, and we would love it very much.”
That exchange mattered less as ceremonial theater than as a reminder of how Mexico City still functions as a landmark stop for major international acts. The Zócalo is not just a big plaza; it is one of the country’s most symbolically loaded public spaces, where politics, social movements, culture and religion overlap. It is also the second-largest public square in the world, behind Tiananmen Square in Beijing. In March, Shakira set the record for the largest audience ever gathered for a free concert there, drawing 400,000 people to the Plaza de la Constitución, the Zócalo’s official name.
Brugada and U2 met at the Casino Metropolitano in the Historic Center, a city government spokesperson confirmed to Billboard Español. During the meeting, she gave each member of the band an axolotl figure, a nod to the amphibian native to central Mexico. Brugada later posted photos of the encounter and framed the visit as something bigger than a standard celebrity stop. “Welcoming U2 to our capital is a celebration of music, connection and the excitement that is felt in every corner of this city,” she wrote in her <post>. “We are a city open to the world, vibrant and full of stories that are shared from the stage to the streets.”
Bono, for his part, had already told Brugada the band wanted to begin its next world tour in Mexico City. “We’re working on that,” he said in English. “In our dreams, we could begin our tour here.” He followed that with a line that said enough on its own: “We love the city.”
The visit also folded into the rollout for “Street of Dreams,” which U2 filmed over two days and which will appear on their upcoming album, due later this year. On Wednesday, the band returned for the second day of shooting. The day before, they performed the new song from the roof of a school bus decorated with graffiti by artist Chavis Mármol, with a crowd gathered around them in the Historic Center. The track features choruses in Spanish, and the scene carried added significance because it marked the first time Larry Mullen Jr. had appeared alongside his bandmates after years away from the stage while recovering from neck and back surgeries.
Mexico has long held a special place in U2’s history. Some of their most celebrated shows have taken place there, including the performance documented on Popmart: Live From Mexico City, recorded in 1997 during the Popmart Tour. Their last concert in Mexico City came during the 30th-anniversary run for The Joshua Tree in October 2017, just three weeks after the earthquake that hit central Mexico. Against that backdrop, the invitation to the Zócalo feels less like a novelty than another chapter in a relationship that has already lasted across several U2 eras.
