I wouldn’t read anything into the specifics of Edge’s answer. “Lots of material!/What to do?” is a reflex U2 answer to a question like that. That they went from the DM sessions in France during the tour, to the very different DM nailing it down work in December-January suggests they already made that decision. He’s either giving a reflex/standard answer, or he’s trying to balance it back down in line.
The truth is probably something a bit like this… no singular reason, combination of a few things: You’re U2, it’s mid January. This album is coming together great. New direction, new sound, you’ve got the songs, you’re super confident, you think it can be BIG. It’s not another Zooropa to U2. It’s shaping up, in both content and intent, to be a BIG album, and you want to hype it as such. There’ll be no problem tying this down over the next few weeks. McGuinness is reflecting this confidence publicly – still saying they’re on track for May - and there are a couple of small signs of something kicking in in the background. Finish it off before South Africa in mid-Feb. Do that, spend February-March chillin’ and doing the admin work around a release. Hit South America. Single comes out somewhere in late April. Single is good, solid. Few weeks for big cross-Atlantic promo. Album for the NA leg. Album is a wide success - its got the hits and the respect, first time in a long time, even if that's a bit shallow and likely in part just because it's with DM. But it's exactly what you need.
NA leg is re-energised. New songs, new feel, new energy. Triumphant Glastonbury gig gives you a moment of wider acceptance and respect that you haven’t had for a long, long time. That the album you have just released is something quite new and exciting for U2, definitely helps. Announce and flog a few Euro gigs, including London and Dublin 360 ‘finale’ nights, straight off the back of that orgy of U2 love. Perfect scenario, very exciting.
Then you hit February.
As usual for U2, album not completely on time. Little bit more to do as you head to South Africa. At the same time, Spider-man really crashes headfirst into a wall at some great speed. Now after South Africa, Bono and Edge need to be in New York, full time, to nurse their $65 million baby. The album is 95% of the way there. Nothing major to do, songs are done, just those spit-n-shine finishing touches around the edges. Finishing it will be do-able, but a bit of a pain as it will all have to be relocated to New York and scheduled around B&E Spider-man bullshit, and thus, the pressure will seriously be on. More serious - the Spider-man commitment is going to head directly into the new album promo timeframe, even into the NA leg itself. No time to go big on promo, no time to give new songs a proper rehearsal, so no wholly new NA setlist, rather, it will be something that gets rolled out over time. Then even more serious - something goes wrong with Euro leg planning. That leg looks to be canned.
So, by mid Feb you have: An album that maybe still needs some work, but now under greatly changed, high pressure conditions that not all may be very comfortable with. A tour that has been halved in size, including the removal of its centrepiece gigs. A band split in two by, of all things, a fucking ridiculous broadway musical, leaving no time to promote, no time to rehearse. With all of this, probably a feeling of all the excitement being sucked out of the air. The band sits around a table in South Africa and looks at all of this and says: Fuck it.
