Two-time Golden Globe Winners U2 are celebrating the 40th year since they got together, in the late afternoon of September 25 1976, in drummer Larry Mullen Jr. ‘s kitchen, hoping to form the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.

Larry had a drum kit and wanted to find some musicians to form a band, so he posted a note on the Mount Temple Comprehensive School’s boards. That evening an unlikely bunch of aspiring musicians got together.  Some of them could play, but they left right away considering that this was a very amateurish affair. Some stayed on: guitarist Dave Evans, would-be bass player Adam Clayton and a young man called Paul Hewson, who attempted to sing.

The quartet somehow forged a bond that stayed with them day after day and led them to learn to play together, write songs and perform them in public – at first for small audiences.  Pioneering DJ and music journalist Dave Fanning gave them their first break, playing their first single on his radio show in Dublin. They got a manager, Paul McGuiness, who took them all the way to a London for their first record deal with Chris Blackwell’s prestigious Island Records, that had already launched the careers of Traffic, Cat Stevens and Bob Marley, among many others.

40 years later millions of fans around the world now know them as U2: The Edge (Dave Evans), Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and Bono (Paul Hewson) – a rock ‘n roll powerhouse and a voice for positive change, a dream of making a better world, without poverty and AIDS.

U2 had played its 1,762^nd concert before going on stage last Friday, September 23, closing the first night of the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas with a 40-minute, 8-song set. During his interview with Charlie Rose last Tuesday night, Bono had promised that U2 would find a way to address Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, which he told Rose could be "potentially the worst idea that ever happened to America." U2 followed through on that promise by starting the show in Las Vegas with a scorching version of "Desire" that featured a video clip of Trump saying "the American dream is dead!" while Bono told the crowd, "What have you got to lose? Everything!!!"

After the acclaimed tour and album Songs of Innocence in 2015, the fans were hoping to get the follow up, Songs of Experience, this week, but Bono spoke briefly with iHeartRadio and said U2's new album will be released in 2017. He asked fans to be patient, adding: “U2 cannot make mistakes and we have the responsibility to come out with best product possible.”

U2 has released 13 studio albums selling over 170 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band. In 2005, U2 were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.

This weekend The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is hosting “A Celebration of U2’s 40^th Anniversary” a special area dedicated to the band that will stay open all day Saturday and Sunday.  Dave Fanning, remembering his first break to U2, will run from Cleveland a live Podcast with U2.