There’s not much that I can say about The Joshua Tree that hasn’t already been said before. And anything that has been said is certainly better put than I ever could. U2’s classic album is now 30 years old if you can believe it. Which is more than enough cause for the band to celebrate the album’s immortality with a giant tour across not only the country, but the world.
On June 28 U2 kicked off the first night of a two-night run of The Joshua Tree tour at MetLife Stadium, bringing the whole tri-state together to celebrate the classic album, and the band that created it. The shows are presented in an unforgettable fashion, with a giant super HD screen that spanned the entirety of the MetLife Stadium endzone (200 feet to be exact – the largest and highest-resolution ever used on a concert tour) of super HD visuals directed by Anton Corbijn.
They began their set walking down the catwalk to the second b-stage with hits that pre-dated The Joshua Tree: “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “New Year’s Day,” “Bad,” and “Pride (In The Name Of Love).” The fact that they could open a major show with these songs just speaks to the enormity of the bands career.
From there they made the walk up to the main stage, where the giant backdrop was lit blood red with the Joshua Tree drenched in a silhouette, as the Edge kicked into the timeless opening riff of “Where The Streets Have No Name.” They then ran through each of the albums tracks in order, with unforgettable images playing right behind them, almost acting as the 5th member of the band.
You could go to any U2 show and expect to hear songs like “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for” or “With Or Without You,” but it was getting to hear cuts like “Red Hill Mining Town” or “In God’s Country” that was really special. But this wasn’t about individual songs or hits, but the whole giant package which we got to hear as it was meant, and that was something special. Bono ended The Joshua Tree portion of the set by saying that the songs off the album are more ours than theirs now, an equally special message.
From there, the band returned for another encore full of hits, some more modern (“Beautiful Day,” “Elevation” and “Vertigo”) and slightly older (“One,” “Ultraviolet (Light My Way”). It’s amazing that throughout all these eras, it has been the core four of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. making music together and evolving throughout each decade.
Sure the new material will never quite reach these same heights, but the fact that they’re still together an able to not only give us new music, but to bring back some of their old ones, that’s something we all probably take for granted.
Find photos from their performance posted below, along with the setlist.
U2 Setlist:
1. Sunday Bloody Sunday
2. New Year’s Day
3. Bad
4. Pride (In the Name of Love)
5. Where the Streets Have No Name
6. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
7. With or Without You
8. Bullet the Blue Sky
9. Running to Stand Still
10. Red Hill Mining Town
11. In God’s Country
12. Trip Through Your Wires
13. One Tree Hill
14. Exit
15. Mothers of the Disappeared
Encore:
16. Miss Sarajevo (Passengers Cover)
17. Beautiful Day
18. Elevation
19. Vertigo
20. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
21. One
22. The Little Things That Give You Away
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