Thatcher was in the throes of trying to put down the miners' strike there was all kinds of shenanigans going on in Central America. It was a period when there was a lot of unrest. That record was written in the mid-Eighties, during the Reagan– Thatcher era of British and U.S.
U2 the joshua tree live full#
He said, "things have kind of come full circle, if you want. Guitarist the Edge cited the 2016 US presidential election and other world events for what he judged to be renewed resonance of The Joshua Tree 's subject matter. However, once they realised the record was still relevant thematically, "the thing just ran away with itself". Lead vocalist Bono said, "it was just to honor this album that meant so much to us" and that at first there was no "grand concept". The band members gave various reasons for the tour. Initially, the band were interested in marking the 30th anniversary of their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, with one show in the United States and Europe each, but they eventually decided to expand it into a full tour. The inspiration for the tour came in August 2016, during show production rehearsals for U2's headlining appearances at the iHeartRadio Music Festival and 's Dreamforce conference. In 2019, the band grossed $73.8 million and sold 567,000 tickets from 15 shows, bringing the two tours' cumulative gross to $390.8 million from 3.3 million tickets sold. The 2017 tour grossed $317 million, making it the year's highest-grossing tour globally, and it sold more than 2.71 million tickets to its 51 shows.
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The tours received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, production, and setlist. They instead strove to make the shows feel forward-looking and debuted two new songs that would later be released on their album Songs of Experience in December 2017. Initially, some critics interpreted the announcement of an anniversary tour to be an acknowledgment by U2 that they had become a legacy act, although the band rejected any characterisations of nostalgia. Photographer Anton Corbijn, who photographed the album sleeve, provided films that accompanied performances of the album's songs. A silhouette of the Joshua tree from the album sleeve was painted on the screen, while a Joshua tree–shaped B-stage represented the plant's shadow.
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The stage featured a 7.6K resolution video screen measuring 200 ft × 45 ft (61 m × 14 m), making it the largest and highest resolution video screen of any concert tour, according to The Guardian. The band cited world events, such as the 2016 US presidential election, for what they perceived to be renewed resonance of the album's subject matter and a reason to revisit it. U2 originally wanted to play a set of one-off shows in the US and Europe to commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, but ultimately decided to stage a full concert tour instead.
![u2 the joshua tree live u2 the joshua tree live](https://showsigoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/U2-2-640x420.jpg)
As part of the tour, U2 headlined the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, in June 2017. It was the first time the group toured in promotion of an album from their back catalogue, rather than a new release. The band played the whole Joshua Tree album during the concerts, which included their first live performances of the song " Red Hill Mining Town". The 2019 tour visited Oceania and Asia in November and December, marking the band's first ever concerts in South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and India. The 2017 tour visited stadiums over four legs: North America from May to July and in September, Europe from July to August, and Latin America in October. The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 and The Joshua Tree Tour 2019 were two worldwide concert tours by rock band U2 commemorating the 30th anniversary of their 1987 album The Joshua Tree.