Anton Corbijn returns to music videos and brings U2 back to the place associated with their biggest triumph - and also one of his - 35 years later. And the fact it works so well encapsulates why Corbijn is one of the genuine masters of the artform.

In Corbijn's video for The Greatest Show On Earth, the Irish legends are a travelling sideshow marooned in the middle of the Californian desert. Bono is the master of ceremonies, of course. The other three members of the band are performing, their faces covered in plastercast masks. But the focus primarily is not on the band at the start, but different women marching through the desert towards them, each carrying an object from home.

The band - in particular Bono - become more central to proceedings as it progresses, and by then, we are under the spell of a visual which gives space to a range of emotion for a characteristcally anthemic but reflective song. It follows an old school respect for rock star charisma, but also lightened by mystery and irreverence. And is that actually the band behind the masks? They turn up again in the video, wearing other disguises.

Corbijn's video manages to be both elegiac - and the Western setting helps that - but also playful. His qualites as a masterful video director are on display and, of course, it looks great. The monochromatic palette for which Anton Corbijn is renowned is shot here by cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.   

Corbijn was the photographer of the cover of U2's most successful album The Joshua Tree in the late 1980s. It wasn't his his first or last for U2, but probably the most iconic for the band, during a period when he was creating iconic portraits of rock stars and bands seemingly as a matter of course. And also, at the same time, being a prolific music video director.

He has still been making promos for Depeche Mode in recent years, but he is now mainly focussed on feature films. His new movie, the crime drama A Talent For Murder, is released next month. For this project, one of the tracks on the U2's new album Carnaval De Luz - and the first of two videos he has directed for the album - he has explained that he was lured into a comeback by U2, a band he has known, and been photographing, for more than 40 years.

"I often say I stopped doing videos but I guess I get persuaded sometimes," Anton wrote on Instagram. "It was a blast, with the band in top form."