U2 performed live for BBC Radio 1 in London this morning, previewing a clutch of songs from the new album.

Appearing before an enthusiastic and select crowd of fans who won last week's Close to the Edge competition on the station, the band played Elevation, Stuck In a Moment, New York and Beautiful Day.

Towards the end. Bono and Edge improvised an acoustic version of She's A Mystery Girl, the song Bono wrote for Roy Orbison in the mid-eighties.

The set, interspersed with an interview, was part of the Simon Mayo morning show and ran into the Jo Whiley lunchtime show. During the interview with Mayo, Bono revealed that he understood that US Congress was on the verge of ratifying $435m in poor country debt relief. This is part of an initial tranche of $100billion in debt cancellation, achieved this year by the Jubilee 2000 campaign.

Bono signed a copy of the new album for British Prime Minster Tony Blair, thanking him for his work on debt relief and urging him to go further. The CD was then biked round to the Prime Minsterial residence at 10 Downing Street.

Adam revealed that he had been listening to the Radio 1 competition during the previous week, and had done quite well, but failed some of the U2 lyric questions. Although he didn't win the competition, he got to see the gig anyway.

The live set, part of a series that U2 are performing in Europe and the US for the launch of All That You Can't Leave Behind at the end of the month, was web-cast on the Radio One and U2.com site.