U2’s upcoming album, Vertigo How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, slated for a November release was stolen from a photo shoot in France last week. Worried the songs might end up online before the album’s release, front man Bono has a plan:

“If it is on the Internet this week, we will release it immediately as a legal download on iTunes, and get hard copies into the shops by the end of the month. … It would be a real pity. It would screw up years of work and months of planning, not to mention f*cking up our holidays. But once it’s out, it’s out.”

As a U2 fan, I find myself torn between hoping the album shows up online so it will be released early and I can legitimately hear it early, and hoping things go according to the band’s original plan.