Martin Garrix and U2 have released 'Fireflies', turning a surprise Tomorrowland premiere into the first Garrix collaboration to feature all four members of the band.
The single arrived on 24 July, one week after Garrix introduced it during his headline set on Tomorrowland's mainstage. The Edge appeared without advance billing and played guitar beside him as the track received its first public performance.
What looked like a festival-scale surprise was the final step in a much longer process. Garrix says work on 'Fireflies' began six summers ago, giving the finished release a history that stretches well beyond its first appearance in Boom.
Six years in the making
Garrix described the song as having a unique mood and said finally playing it with The Edge felt both intense and surreal, a long development period that explains why the record doesn't feel like a quick festival-season crossover assembled around two famous names.
The production places Bono's vocal and The Edge's guitar inside a broad electronic frame without flattening either into a brief sample or decorative feature. Its scale is unmistakably designed for open-air stages, but the arrangement leaves enough space for the band's identity to remain audible.
This time, it is the full band
Garrix previously worked with Bono and The Edge on 'We Are The People', the official song connected to UEFA Euro 2020, and later produced 'Scars' for U2's 2026 Easter Lily EP. 'Fireflies' marks a different point in that relationship because all four U2 members appear on the recording.
Garrix said the sessions gave him a closer view of the chemistry inside the band, and why their sound continues to register so clearly across very different settings.
From Tomorrowland to release day
The live debut gave the track an immediate visual identity: a black-and-white photograph, The Edge beside Garrix, and the Tomorrowland name above them. It let the collaboration be understood first as a shared performance rather than a streaming announcement.
Seven days later, the official release confirmed the premiere wasn't an isolated festival moment. 'Fireflies' now sits inside a particularly collaboration-heavy period for Garrix, while giving U2 another route into electronic music that still sounds connected to the band's own melodic language. A six-year record was introduced in one unexpected appearance, then released while the memory of that stage moment was still fresh, which is what makes the debut feel earned rather than engineered.
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