Bad news came to U2 fans this week as Bono let it slip to friends that it would be a long time before we see the lads from Dublin onstage again.

Who could blame them? They must be knackered after the successful U2360 tour and the drama around resuscitating the Spider-Man Broadway musical!

Now comes word from Rolling Stone that Jack White, Depeche Mode, Patti Smith and Damian Rice are among the artists on a forthcoming tribute album honoring the 20th anniversary of U2’s Achtung Baby.

The album was commissioned by the British music magazine Q. “Jack White does ‘Love Is Blindness,’ Depeche Mode do ‘So Cruel,’ Patti Smith did ‘Until the End of the World,’ Damian Rice does ‘One.’ It just goes on,” said Bono at the Toronto International Film Festival last week.

“And it’s strange, because when I hear the album, when U2 do it, all I hear is what’s wrong with it. But when I heard all these artists doing it, I thought, ‘It’s really good.’” In addition, Bono said that artist Damien Hirst recently completed a video for “Even Better Than the Real Thing.”

“He made a very special art work, which has only been shown once and probably won’t be shown again, because [it was for the] Glastonbury festival and it’s an extraordinary work of art.”

One person asked via Twitter if U2 were to release a single from Achtung Baby today, which would fit best?

Without hesitation, Bono answered, “‘Even Better Than The Real Thing.’ Now there’s a mix of it, which is stunning, called the ‘Fish Out of Water’ remix, which I would like to release as a single,” he said.

“I’m trying to talk some people into it, even today. It has the Damien Hirst thing. Damien did his work to that mix. That’s the one we open with and end the film with.”

Bono and the lads opened their Meadowlands gig earlier this summer with four songs from Achtung Baby, proving that the classic album still has great staying power!