Its been an extremely quiet year for U2, but that will change on November 8th when they resume their Joshua Tree tour at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. The tour will then head to Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines before wrapping up December 15th at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, India.
The final show will mark the bands first-ever performance in India. We have been around the world with The Joshua Tree and we cant think of a better place to celebrate the end of this tour, the Edge said in a statement. Mumbai, India, were coming for you, I hope youre ready!
This is, of course, not the first time that U2 have taken The Joshua Tree on the road. The first time took place in 1987 shortly after the album came out, and thanks to massive radio hits like With or Without You, Where The Streets Have No Name, and I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For, they were able to headline stadiums in some markets for the first time in their career. The American leg of the tour was documented in the concert film Rattle and Hum, but heres incredible footage of them playing Running to Stand Still at a Paris show on July 4th, 1987.
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The hits from The Joshua Tree stayed in U2s set list pretty consistently over the years, but in 2017 they celebrated the 30th anniversary of the album by playing it straight through at stadiums in North America, Europe, and South America. It was the first time theyd played songs like Exit, Trip Through Your Wires, and In Gods Country in many years, and the first time theyd done Red Hill Mining Town ever.
The tour was a tremendous success, and when U2 hit the road they following year to promote Songs of Experience they didnt do a single song from The Joshua Tree at any point. We were all excited about the idea of not delving back to Joshua Tree, U2 bassist Adam Clayton told Rolling Stone at the time. Thats because Joshua Tree has cast such a big shadow over everything weve done. We felt that by doing that tour that we, to an extent, had laid that to rest for the moment. There will be another time to come back to that material [though].
That time has come, though its hard to imagine them doing it again after this last show in India. Next year, however, is the 30th anniversary of Achtung Baby. We asked Bono in 2017 whether a Zoo TV 2021 tour was possible and he didnt completely dismiss the idea. I havent thought about it, he said, but then again if youd asked me five years ago about a Joshua Tree one I would have laughed at you. It would have to be called Zoo.Com.