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The Joshua Tree Tour
The Joshua Tree Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1987 album The Joshua Tree, it comprised 109 shows over three legs, spanning from April to December that year. The first and third legs visited North America, while the second leg toured Europe. Although it featured minimal production like the group's previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was the first to involve larger venues in arenas and stadiums as a result of the album's breakthrough. Much like U2 did on The Joshua Tree, on tour the group explored social and political concerns, along with American roots and mythology, collaborated with American guest musicians and opening acts such as B. B. King. U2 also recorded new material; these songs and their experiences on tour were depicted on the 1988 album and documentary film Rattle and Hum and on the 2007 video and live album Live from Paris. Territories that this tour missed would later be covered by Rattle and Hum's Lovetown Tour.
The Joshua Tree Tour and its album were a huge commercial and critical success, continuing to greatly increase U2's popularity. The tour was the highest-grossing North American tour of the year and overall grossed US$56 million globally from 3.17 million tickets sold. Songs from The Joshua Tree ultimately became staples of U2's concerts on subsequent tours. Despite the band's success, lead vocalist Bono suffered injuries on tour and the band were unprepared for their newfound fame and the tour's intensity. Their experiences combined with the polarised reception of Rattle and Hum led them to change their musical direction and image, beginning with Achtung Baby and the Zoo TV Tour. U2 would later embark on anniversary tours of The Joshua Tree three decades later.
Like their previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was a minimalistic, austere production, and U2 used this outlet for addressing political and social concerns. One such issue was Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's canceling the state's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Throughout the tour, the group continued to explore American roots music: they collaborated with Harlem's New Voices of Freedom gospel choir and visited Graceland and Sun Studio in Memphis, where they recorded new material.
The tour's opening night was 2 April at Arizona State University (ASU)'s Activity Center in Tempe, Arizona. The day before the opening night, frontman Bono fell onto a spotlight he was carrying during a rendition of "Bullet the Blue Sky", cutting open his chin. Bono had partially lost his voice as a result. He was taken to a hospital and the wound was stitched up. He asked the audience to help him sing the majority of the set, which they were happy to do. At the time, it was explained by their publicists in a press release that it was due to the week of rehearsals the band held at the Activity Center and he had over rehearsed his voice. He had fully regained his voice for the second of the two shows at the arena on 4 April. Bono later said, "I was lost in the music and at the start of any tour you're just getting to know the physicality of the stage... and you're overestimating your own physicality. You think you're made of metal and you're not. Cuts and bruises, that's what I remember from The Joshua Tree."
The first leg took place in American indoor arenas during April and May. The first leg finished with 5 concerts at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford between 11 and 16 May.
The second leg in European arenas and outdoor stadiums ran from late May through to early August, starting at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome on 27 May. The final show of the European leg is at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork on 8 August.
The third leg returned to American and Canadian arenas and stadiums in the autumn. The tour ended on 20 December back where it started in Tempe, Arizona, but this time at Sun Devil Stadium.
On 30 April, the band played the Pontiac Silverdome, their first headlining stadium show in the United States. While the show's reviews were positive, they said that a video screen is necessary for people at the back. U2 production manager, Willie Williams, recalls the debate within the band about the use of screens and whether they would divide the audience's attention between the stage and the screen. A video screen was installed behind the lighting tower at the 20 September show at the RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., so the back half of the stadium could better see the band, and screens were used at most stadium shows for the rest of the tour. Bono sustained a second injury during the Washington concert, falling off the rain-slicked stage and dislocating his arm. He completed the performance and had his arm popped back into place after its conclusion. His arm was in a sling for twelve shows between 22 September and 20 October, which is visible at some points during the Rattle and Hum film.
The Joshua Tree Tour
The Joshua Tree Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1987 album The Joshua Tree, it comprised 109 shows over three legs, spanning from April to December that year. The first and third legs visited North America, while the second leg toured Europe. Although it featured minimal production like the group's previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was the first to involve larger venues in arenas and stadiums as a result of the album's breakthrough. Much like U2 did on The Joshua Tree, on tour the group explored social and political concerns, along with American roots and mythology, collaborated with American guest musicians and opening acts such as B. B. King. U2 also recorded new material; these songs and their experiences on tour were depicted on the 1988 album and documentary film Rattle and Hum and on the 2007 video and live album Live from Paris. Territories that this tour missed would later be covered by Rattle and Hum's Lovetown Tour.
The Joshua Tree Tour and its album were a huge commercial and critical success, continuing to greatly increase U2's popularity. The tour was the highest-grossing North American tour of the year and overall grossed US$56 million globally from 3.17 million tickets sold. Songs from The Joshua Tree ultimately became staples of U2's concerts on subsequent tours. Despite the band's success, lead vocalist Bono suffered injuries on tour and the band were unprepared for their newfound fame and the tour's intensity. Their experiences combined with the polarised reception of Rattle and Hum led them to change their musical direction and image, beginning with Achtung Baby and the Zoo TV Tour. U2 would later embark on anniversary tours of The Joshua Tree three decades later.
Like their previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was a minimalistic, austere production, and U2 used this outlet for addressing political and social concerns. One such issue was Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's canceling the state's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Throughout the tour, the group continued to explore American roots music: they collaborated with Harlem's New Voices of Freedom gospel choir and visited Graceland and Sun Studio in Memphis, where they recorded new material.
The tour's opening night was 2 April at Arizona State University (ASU)'s Activity Center in Tempe, Arizona. The day before the opening night, frontman Bono fell onto a spotlight he was carrying during a rendition of "Bullet the Blue Sky", cutting open his chin. Bono had partially lost his voice as a result. He was taken to a hospital and the wound was stitched up. He asked the audience to help him sing the majority of the set, which they were happy to do. At the time, it was explained by their publicists in a press release that it was due to the week of rehearsals the band held at the Activity Center and he had over rehearsed his voice. He had fully regained his voice for the second of the two shows at the arena on 4 April. Bono later said, "I was lost in the music and at the start of any tour you're just getting to know the physicality of the stage... and you're overestimating your own physicality. You think you're made of metal and you're not. Cuts and bruises, that's what I remember from The Joshua Tree."
The first leg took place in American indoor arenas during April and May. The first leg finished with 5 concerts at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford between 11 and 16 May.
The second leg in European arenas and outdoor stadiums ran from late May through to early August, starting at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome on 27 May. The final show of the European leg is at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork on 8 August.
The third leg returned to American and Canadian arenas and stadiums in the autumn. The tour ended on 20 December back where it started in Tempe, Arizona, but this time at Sun Devil Stadium.
On 30 April, the band played the Pontiac Silverdome, their first headlining stadium show in the United States. While the show's reviews were positive, they said that a video screen is necessary for people at the back. U2 production manager, Willie Williams, recalls the debate within the band about the use of screens and whether they would divide the audience's attention between the stage and the screen. A video screen was installed behind the lighting tower at the 20 September show at the RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., so the back half of the stadium could better see the band, and screens were used at most stadium shows for the rest of the tour. Bono sustained a second injury during the Washington concert, falling off the rain-slicked stage and dislocating his arm. He completed the performance and had his arm popped back into place after its conclusion. His arm was in a sling for twelve shows between 22 September and 20 October, which is visible at some points during the Rattle and Hum film.