NEW YORK Nov 22, 2004 — With the bright lights of lower Manhattan shining on the stage, the band U2 played a surprise outdoor concert Monday in a waterfront park beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Although the MTV-organized show hadn't been publicly announced or advertised, thousands lined up at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, a riverside park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and across from the New York skyline.

Most people said they heard about the show through word-of-mouth or postings on U2 fans' Web sites.

The concert was for an MTV special called "mtvJAMMED: U2," set to air Dec. 10.

Led by frontman Bono, U2 played songs from its new album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." Although the album wasn't scheduled to be released until Tuesday, many fans had already downloaded the songs and sang along with the choruses.

Deb Pruitt, 47, left her home in Culpeper, Va., at 4 a.m. to see the concert. She met her daughter, Melissa, who was flown in from Los Angeles after winning a U2 raffle.

"It's totally worth it not to sleep at all and drive eight hours to be here," said Deb Pruitt. "We're big fans."

Before the concert, U2 spent the day playing on the back of a flatbed truck that wound through city streets as a film crew shot the band for a new video.

When the waiting fans in Brooklyn saw the truck crossing the Manhattan Bridge with the band on board, they screamed and waved at the rockers.

"It was an incredible show," Zain Deane, 30, said after the band's 45-minute set. "U2's the best. And there's nothing like the skyline at night."