Green Day's website said U2 asked them to appear on the song to raise money for The Edge's charity Music Rising.
The fund helps replace instruments lost in Hurricane Katrina. U2 have also started work on new material with producer Rick Rubin, their site said.
'Raise awareness'
The bands would get together "in the coming weeks", Green Day said.
"New Orleans has always been a special city to us, being a hotbed of music and creativity, and it's hard to believe parts of the Gulf region still remain devastated," they said.
"We feel that it's important to continue to raise awareness."
Richard Jobson says a phone call came out of the blue early one evening from The Edge asking what his thoughts were on the bands covering the song as part of this very special charity event. 'I was surprised and very proud that The Edge held the song it such high regard. I have always been a fan of U2 and the thought of them performing the song in a studio is enough but the fact that they will play it live along with Green Day is quite difficult to get my head around. I am too dismissive of what we achieved in The Skids, we were very young and naive but the songs still have an energy and innocence. It's sad that Stuart Adamson who wrote the song with me could not be here to witness this special event. My heart goes out to all of the victims of Katrina and I hope their lives are slowly being re-built after such a terrible experience. The song mixes a sense of tragic loss with a hint of optimism. If anything I hope the new version puts a smile on peoples faces and gives them the rush it used to give me when I played it on stage way back when the dinosaurs still ruled the earth.'
Here's a couple of photographs from the past of The Skids performing THE SAINTS ARE COMING - 'I'm the idiot in the cricket jumper and the cool guy on guitar is Stuart Adamson. I was going through a Great Gatsby period i.e deluded, fake, manufactured and in desperate need of an identity. Pity I didn't have Gatsby's money.'
