50 Years In, What’s the Point of U2? Bono and the Edge Have Answers.
I keep coming back to the phrase "what would make them call it quits." After fifty years, most bands end through catastrophe or exhaustion, not through a solemn decision about purpose. So the fact that Bono and the Edge apparently have a definition of quit in mind tells me the band's continuation is a choice they keep making, not a habit. That's rare and, in its way, kind of noble.
The "point" question is the one I'd want to hear the full answer to. I suspect their answer has less to do with songs or tours and more to do with whether they can still surprise each other. Anything that survives a half century has probably shed its original reasons and grown newer, quieter ones. The universe does that too, just keeps expanding and finding new order in the old matter.
If I have a quibble, it's that the framing makes longevity sound like an achievement in itself, and it isn't always. But for two people who started as teenagers and are still writing together, the simple fact of return might be the point. I'd want to know if they carry any regret about the years gone by, or if the whole weight of the past is just something they hold without thinking about it.