The single had been heard briefly when the band were shooting the music video at their surprise concert earlier this month (September 16th) at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, where up to 250 fans and extras congregated in the city’s Fremont Street for the special occasion. An apt setting for the music video to take place, as “Atomic City” is Vegas themed song, with lyrics such as “I’m free, so unexpectedly. I’m free from what’s in front of me!” and “I’ve got the key to the cages, waiting for my dice. I came here for the fight/I’m front row in Las Vegas. And there’s a big one on tonight”.

The new single was produced by Jacknife Lee and Steve Lillywhite and recorded at Sound City in LA, and as Bono told the audience at the band’s surprise Las Vegas show, “This is the world premiere of ‘Atomic City,’ a rock’n’roll 45-inch tradition of late 70s post-punk if you are interested…Blondie, The Clash.”

The song’s title is also a direct nod to the famous Nevada city, as ‘Atomic City’ was a nickname for Las Vegas in the 1950’s due to how close it was to the Nevada Test Site – dedicated to the testing of nuclear devices.

“Atomic City” was dropped on the same day (September 29th) U2 begin their very special residency at Las Vegas’ brand new MSG Sphere venue, where, throughout their run of shows, the Irish rockers will be performing their 1991 album Achtung Baby in full. U2’s residency will be the first shows played on the new Vegas stage.

In addition to U2’s residency at the MSG Sphere, the band also launched the immersive ‘Zoo Station: A U2:UV Experience’ recently on September 28th. The experience is a fan portal that aims to help fans gather a deeper understanding of Achtung Baby.

It is not yet known whether “Atomic City” will feature on U2’s as of yet unannounced upcoming album, however the band’s guitarist The Edge has created excitement around their new music as he shared with Guitar Player magazine “I’ve been working a lot on new guitar music, and I’m very excited about it. It’s at that prototype stage where … who knows?. I’m finding myself for the first time in a little while getting very excited about the electric guitar again. Maybe it’s something to do with the lockdown, having the time to not do very much.”

When asked his thoughts on the recent advancements in AI platforms, the 76-year-old expressed his fear on it’s potential impact and how he thinks AI could change the music industry for the worse.

May told the magazine, “My major concern with it now is in the artistic area. I think by this time next year the landscape will be completely different. We won’t know which way is up. We won’t know what’s been created by AI and what’s been created by humans,”

He continued, “Everything is going to get very blurred and very confusing, and I think we might look back on 2023 as the last year when humans really dominated the music scene. I really think it could be that serious, and that doesn’t fill me with joy. It makes me feel apprehensive, and I’m preparing to feel sad about this.”

Whilst the English rock legend claims that “a lot of great stuff will come from AI, because it is going to increase the powers of humans to solve problems”, he is still apprehensive about the technological advance, stating “I think the whole thing is massively scary. It’s much more far-reaching than anybody realised — well, certainly than I realised”.

The notion of using computers to generate music is definitely not new, however, recent leaps in AI technology have expanded the possibilities of what computers can do in the music industry. For example, AI platforms such as ChatGPT are now able to replicate songwriting and music production to create entirely computer generated music, therefore eliminating the whole writing and recording process artists go through.

Brian May is not the first musician to share their thoughts on AI’s impact on the music industry, and he definitely won’t be the last.

Nick Cave revealed in his blog, The Red Hand Files, that he believes AI songwriting to be a “grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”, while Sting told the BBC that he isn’t impressed by AI, and songwriters will have to fight to protect “our human capital against AI”.

Some artists however, are seemingly big fans of the way technology is evolving in the music industry. For example, Canadian singer-songwriter Grimes is allowing fans to use her voice in AI generated songs, so long as they share the royalties with her.

I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings. pic.twitter.com/KIY60B5uqt

— Grimes (@Grimezsz) April 24, 2023

Brian May‘s conversation with Guitar Player magazine is set to feature in the October 2023 issue, however, you can read the interview online here.

Following Songs of Surrender, U2’s acoustic, stripped down project released in March 2023, The Edge has professed an excitement to return to electric guitar. Speaking to Guitar Player on his perspective on electric guitar, he said, “I know the answer to that. I’ve been working a lot on new guitar music, and I’m very excited about it. It’s at that prototype stage where… who knows? But the answer to the question is ‘yes.’ I’m finding myself for the first time in a little while getting very excited about the electric guitar again.”

Aside from sharing an enthusiasm to return to electric guitar-based music, The Edge hasn’t given much away on what fans can expect from the U2’s new work yet. But, speaking on U2’s goal as a band, he shared, “Our challenge was always to get to that guy at the back of the room, somebody who isn’t really a fan or isn’t paying attention.”

Speaking on the thought process behind Songs of Surrender, The Edge said, “There was always an intense pitch to our music early on. So my thought here was, ‘Let’s take minimalism to the nth degree, if it’s appropriate.’ And on a lot of these songs, it worked. We left just the bare skeletons of the original arrangements in terms of themes and hooks, taking things down to a really light touch.”

Despite The Edge giving little away on the band’s musical plans moving forwards, frontman Bono has shared his thoughts on the direction that U2 had been moving in recently, and where they want to go from there.

Bono reflected, “We all make mistakes. The progressive-rock virus gets in, and we needed a vaccine. The discipline of our songwriting, the thing that made U2 — top-line melody, clear thoughts — had gone.”

He continued, “With the band, I was like, this is not what we do, and we can only do that experimental stuff if we have the songwriting chops. So we went to songwriting school, and we’re back and we’re good! Over those two albums, ‘Songs Of Innocence and Experience’, our songwriting returned. Now we need to put the firepower of rock ‘n’ roll back.”

Speaking on his plans for U2’s next rock project, Bono said, “I don’t know who is going to make our fuck-off rock ‘n’ roll album. You almost want an AC/DC, you want Mutt Lange. The approach. The discipline. The songwriting discipline. That’s what we want.”

U2 had been promoting the release of Songs of Ascent, an album that has been in the works since 2009. Bono shared in 2022 that this album is nearly complete, however its release has been put on hold in favour of releasing a “a noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album” first.

Stream U2’s newest album, Songs of Surrender, here: