Martin Garrix and U2 reunite for 'Fireflies' single

Tomorrowland premiere closes festival set

Martin Garrix premiered Fireflies during the closing moments of his Tomorrowland 2026 set, bringing The Edge on stage as the collaboration was heard in full for the first time. The track features Bono's vocals and The Edge's guitar woven into Garrix's melodic electronic production. By placing the premiere at the end of one of his biggest festival performances, Garrix separated it from the unreleased IDs heard earlier in the set and turned the moment into a proper introduction to the next chapter of his work with U2.

The collaboration goes beyond placing U2 vocals over a Garrix production. Bono's vocal performance and The Edge's guitar are central to the track, while Garrix's production brings those elements into a melodic electronic record that still feels closely tied to his own sound. Having The Edge physically on stage gave the first performance a stronger connection to U2 as a band, not just to Bono as the vocalist heard on the record.

Bono's role in Garrix's vocal development

Garrix's relationship with Bono and The Edge first became a major public collaboration with We Are The People, released in 2021 as the official song for UEFA EURO 2020. In the years that followed, Bono became one of the people who repeatedly encouraged Garrix to sing on his own records. Speaking about that decision in 2025, Garrix said Bono had been pushing him to use his own voice for three or four years and had also helped him with singing technique, breathing and lyrics.

That changed with Angels For Each Other, his 2025 collaboration with Arijit Singh, where Garrix sang on a released track himself. He continued singing on Catharina in 2026, taking on the lead vocal while Bono was also credited as one of the songwriters. By the time Fireflies was completed, Garrix had already begun establishing singing as a genuine part of his own music, which makes his vocal contribution to the new U2 collaboration especially relevant.

Five years of creative partnership

The track marks the first major release between Garrix and U2 since We Are The People, while continuing a creative relationship that has developed through several projects over the past five years. With Bono and The Edge involved once again, Fireflies brings that relationship back into focus through a release that connects their earlier collaborations with Garrix's development as a vocalist.

Fireflies is set to release on July 24.