To coincide with the joint U2/Green Day recording of "The Saints are Coming", both bands performed a live version of the song during the Monday Night Football Pregame show of the New Orleans Saints - Atlanta Falcons game on Monday night September 25, 2006. This day also happened to be the thirtieth anniversary of the formation of U2. This was to be the first game in the Louisiana Superdome since it was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and the song was being played to benefit Music Rising, a charity created by U2's The Edge in order to bring instruments and music programs back to New Orleans.

In the four song set, U2 and Green Day performed "Wake Me Up When September Ends" followed by a medley of The Animals' "House Of The Rising Sun", The Skids' "The Saints are Coming" and U2's "Beautiful Day" as a seven-piece band, augmented by the Rebirth Brass Band, the New Birth Brass Band and Troy Andrews and Orleans Avenue. The lyrics of all four songs were customized by singers Billie Joe Armstrong and Bono to commemorate the trials, tribulations and successes that faced the city over the past year. Punctuating the 68,000 fans' first season-ticket sellout of the Louisiana Superdome in its 31-year history, the New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons 23-3. The live version of "The Saints are Coming" was immediately made available for download purchase at Real Rhapsody.

The studio version of the song was released for digital download on October 30, 2006 and as a CD single on November 6, 2006. The song will also appear on U2s new Best of album, U218, which was released November 20 2006.

A music video for "The Saints are Coming," directed by Chris Milk, was released on video site YouTube on October 27, 2006. The music video has the two bands playing at the Abbey Road Studio and at the Louisiana Superdome, intermixed with news footage of the displacement of residents after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The second half of the video is a satire showing a fictional redeployment of U.S troops and vehicles from Iraq to New Orleans to help victims of the hurricane, with the military personnel fulfilling the titular role of the saints.

"The Saints are Coming" is a song by the Scottish punk rock band The Skids, off their debut album Scared to Dance from 1978. The song featured Richard Jobson singing of a man facing inclement weather and personal fears. It reached number 48 in the UK Singles Chart. Lyrics were written by Richard Jobson/music by Stuart Adamson who later went on to form Big Country. As with Into the Valley, it is sung by fans of Dunfermline Athletic FC in the Scottish premiership.

The song's lyrics about storms and drowning came back to light after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. In September 2006 it was announced that Green Day and U2 were to record a cover version of the song for charitable purposes. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.