U2 is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakout album The Joshua Tree with a special summer tour across Europe and North America, the band’s guitarist Edge confirmed in an interview with Rolling Stone. As to whether they’ll be playing the album in order, that’s still up for debate; within a few sentences, Edge says the show “might not necessarily start with Track 1, Side 1” and then concludes, “Yes, we will be playing the album in sequence.”
The Joshua Tree was released in 1987 to great acclaim and is one of the world’s best-selling albums. Its upcoming revival was sparked by such seismic events as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as president. “[The Joshua Tree] was written in the mid-’80s, during the Reagan-Thatcher era of British and U.S. politics … It feels like we’re right back there in a way,” Edge explained. “I don’t think any of our work has ever come full circle to that extent. It just felt like, ‘Wow, these songs have a new meaning and a new resonance today that they didn’t have three years ago, four years ago.’ ”
U2 will showcase the entirety of The Joshua Tree. While the the band’s landmark album was already remastered for its 20th anniversary, this new event carries a special distinction: the first U2 live performance of “Red Hill Mining Town” ever and the first of other songs such as “Exit” and “Trip Through Your Wires” since the 1980s.
You can see the full schedule here.
