U2 announce 'The Joshua Tree' 30th anniversary dates, headlining Bonnaroo

January 9, 2017

U2‘s massively popular and influential album The Joshua Tree turns 30 this year, and in celebration of the anniversary, the band will perform the album in full on tour this year. The tour includes a headlining appearance at Bonnaroo. Openers vary by date, with Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers and OneReublic on the North American dates, and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in Europe. In a statement announcing the tour, The Edge said:

It seems like we have come full circle from when The Joshua Tree songs were originally writtten, with global upheaval, extreme right wing politics and some fundamental human rights at risk. To celebrate the album – as these songs seem so relevant and prescient of these times too – we decided to do these shows, it feels right for now. We’re looking forward to it.

As a Rolling Stone interview with The Edge points out, it’ll be the first time the band plays “Red Hill Mining Town” live. Here’s what he says about that:

I think it was probably one of those songs that due to tempo and arrangement never found a place within the live set. It’s funny, sometimes great songs … Think of a live show as an ecosystem. You’ve got niches to fill. There are uptempo, fast, dramatic songs and those are crucial. Then there are sort of more medium-tempo songs and no matter how great they are, sometimes you just can’t find a place for them. So I don’t think it was anything more complicated than that. But listening back to it I was like, “Wow, this is, I’m really …”

You may not know this, but within a few days of finishing the album, “Red Hill Mining Town” was our leading contender for the first single. We went ahead and made a video for it with Neil Jordan and we were very pretty confident about it. Then as the weeks went by and we sort of got back our objectivity, views started to change and it became “With or Without You,” and I think we were correct.

The tour hits the NYC-area on June 28 at MetLife Stadium with The Lumineers opening. Tickets for that show go on sale Tuesday, January 17 at 10 AM with various presales starting beforehand.

In February, The Lumineers play two MSG shows with Andrew Bird.

All U2 dates are listed, with some Joshua Tree videos, below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmSdTa9kaiQ

U2 — 2017 Tour Dates
May 12 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place*
May 14 – Seattle, WA – CenturyLink Field*
May 17 – Santa Clara, CA – Levi’s Stadium*
May 20 – Los Angeles, CA – Rose Bowl+
May 24 – Houston, TX – NRG Stadium+
May 26 – Dallas, TX – AT&T Stadium+
June 3 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field+
June 7 – Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Field+
June 8-11 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Festival
June 11 – Miami, FL – Hard Rock Stadium^
June 14 – Tampa, FL – Raymond James Stadium^
June 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field+
June 20 – Washington DC – FedExField+
June 23 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre+
June 25 – Boston, MA – Gillette Stadium+
June 28 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium+
July 1 – Cleveland, OH – FirstEnergy Stadium^
July 8 – London, UK – Twickenham%
July 12 – Berlin, DE – Olympic Stadium%
July 15 – Rome, IT – Olympic Stadium%
July 18 – Barcelona, ES – Olympic Stadium%
July 22 – Dublin, IE – Croke Park%
July 25 – Paris, FR – Stade de France%
July 29 – Amsterdam, NE – Amsterdam Arena%
August 1 – Brussels, BE – Stade Roi Baudouin%