Even in the midst of the rhythm game explosion that followed the release of the first Guitar Hero, a handful of legendary bands refused to license their tracks. Groups such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd had no desire to let gamers play their tunes with plastic instruments. After years of waiting, though, one of the biggest acts on the planet, U2, will contribute two tracks to the Rock Band 4 setlist.
Joining classic rockers such as Van Halen, Rush and The Who, U2 is arguably the biggest get for Harmonix’s resurrected franchise. The two tracks featured from Bono and company pull from both the band’s past and present. “I Will Follow” from their classic 1980 full-length debut Boy will be featured alongside “Cedarwood Road,” which is from everyone’s favorite iTunes freebie, Songs of Innocence.
While nothing official has been announced so far, Harmonix expects to release additional U2 tracks for Rock Band 4 in the time following the title’s launch.
Despite their popularity, U2 tends to get a bad rap these days. Perhaps it has to do with the personality of Bono, or perhaps it stems from the ill-conceived release of Songs of Innocence. However, I’m personally pretty excited to see them come to Rock Band 4. The inclusion of “I Will Follow” is a solid choice, but I’m more interested to see what future songs come to the title as DLC. There’s quite a bit to choose from, and hopefully Harmonix grabs an equal amount of classic and modern tracks from the group.
Rock Band 4 is set to reunite the band on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 6th.