New Yorkers got the surprise of their lives yesterday - U2 performing from the back of a truck.

The band have made a bit of a career out of stopping the traffic - yesterday it was in Times Square, New York City as they filmed a video for 'All Because Of You', a track from the new album 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb' released in the US today.

With long-time friend of the band Phil Joanou directing the shoot, Bono even had time for a rendition of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' as the Christmas shoppers lay down their bags and city business folk hastily re-arranged their schedules.

Our insider on the shoot describes the day, which started at 7.45am, as
'incredible' .

'Phil Joanou shooting video through the streets of New York. Ten
miles covered on a 48ft flat bed trailer crossing Manahattan, down
Colombus, Union Square, Time Square, Houston and over Manhattan Bridge.'

No sooner was the video shoot complete than it was a dash to Brooklyn Bridge ­ where word of some U2-related action seemed to have got there ahead of the band. Several thousand fans turned up for an impromptu set that featured Vertigo; All Because Of You; Miracle Drug; Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own; City of Blinding Lights; Original of the Species; She's a Mystery To Me; Beautiful Day; I Will Follow; Out of Control and Vertigo again.

The whole unbelievable spectacle, with New York¹s skyline offering an
unmistakeable backdrop, was filmed by MTV and is expected to air next month.
Our source on set tells us that there were '28 cameras', not forgetting the
helicopters and Brooklyn bridge lit up even brighter than the celebs who
included: Moby, Aidan Quinn, Christy Turlington, Jay Z, Ed Burns and Julian
Schnabel.

Catch video on the BBC news report of the show here.

MTV report here with more video clips.