The Joshua Tree Tour 2017

May 12 2017
Vancouver, BC, CA / BC Place Stadium
with Mumford and Sons
46

OPENING NIGHT

The tour opened in Vancouver tonight, the band playing The Joshua Tree in full for the first time.

Arriving on stage to Sunday Bloody Sunday and closing with a brand new unreleased song - The Little Things That Give You Away - the heart of the show was the eleven songs from The Joshua Tree, thirty years after the band first toured the album.

Here’s the complete set list from the show tonight. 

Two years, almost to the day, since the 'Innocence & Experience' tour opened at the Rogers Arena, the stadium next door hosted the premiere of  'The Joshua Tree 2017.'  It will play to a jaw-loosening total of 1.7 million people in just 33 shows, between now and August 1.  

So it was that first Larry Mullen, then The Edge, Bono and Adam Clayton, walked out to assume their initial work stations on the relatively small second stage that would host five opening selections.
 “Here we are again,” said Bono, “trying to find some magic in this concrete temple.” 
Over the following two hours, that's exactly what happened. What we witnessed was something inherently different from the 2015 spectacle, in a show of sometimes more understated tones and textures, but one that was every bit as dynamic and absorbing.

That second stage featured a perfect shadow of the giant silver Joshua Tree that grows out of the main, custom-built screen, which is the largest unobscured and highest-resolution LED screen ever used in a touring production. In creative director Willie Williams' latest vision, the 200ft x 45ft edifice sat waiting to come to life, as the B stage witnessed definitive performances of such U2 staples as 'New Year's Day' and an especially cathartic 'Pride (In The Name Of Love).' In this modest setting, the visceral and unvarnished potency of four symbiotic musicians was tangible. 

Then to the main stage, which burst into living colour as if the tree had reached maturity in seconds flat. To a huge cheer, the first of longtime visual collaborator Anton Corbijn's stunningly renewed visual representations of ‘The Joshua Tree' imagery appeared in breathtaking high definition, as accompaniment to 'Where The Streets Have No Name.' 

The opening tracks of the album played out, as they do on record, like a snapshot U2 greatest hits set, with 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and 'With Or Without You' followed by a furious 'Bullet The Blue Sky.’ A  highlight of the evening came in the band's first performance of the new, horn-laden Steve Lillywhite mix of 'Red Hill Mining Town,' soon to be found on the deluxe reissue of the LP. 

The Edge, inventive throughout on guitar and keyboards, excelled on 'One Tree Hill,' which was followed by an inspired discovery: an original clip from a 1958 edition of the American western series 'Trackdown,' in which a con artist claims he can save the world by building a wall. By some crazy coincidence his name is Walter Trump.

The final, 'post-Joshua' section of the concert featured a buoyant 'Beautiful Day' and an elegant 'Ultra Violet (Light My Way),' dedicated to pioneering and trailblazing  women in all walks of life - ‘Herstory'. A visual roll call paid respect to everyone from Rosa Parks to Pussy Riot, and from Rosetta Tharpe to Grace Jones. The piece appears in further support of the ONE organisation’s ongoing Poverty Is Sexist campaign. 

Leading into 'One,' Bono requested the audience's support in a chant all too apposite for our times, “The power of the people, so much stronger than the people in power.” 'Miss Sarajevo' had a different, but also painfully relevant, accompaniment in a specially commissioned film by the French artist J.R., filmed at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where some 80,000 Syrians have been forced to temporarily settle.

The final coup was the new song 'The Little Things That Give You Away,' a reflective and promising preview of the group's next studio adventure. “Sometimes the end is not coming/The end is here,” sang Bono. Sadly that was true, but this had been an elevating occasion that eloquently merged U2's past and their future. 

If you were at the show , tell us what it was like. Add your own review and photos below.

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    Sao Paulo - last show of The Joshua Tree Tour 2017. Video by instagram.com/mvsphotography
    Comments
    46
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    Nicrog
    That guitar!
    30 years after the first time I saw them, and having never missed a show since, I got to see the best band in the world performing my favourite album of all time. Unforgettable! The sound and the visuals were crystal clear, and the songs were magic! Something about that guitar echoing through the walls of that stadium brings me home. Brought me to tears.
    Romina_from_Vancouver
    Oh My Goodness!!!!!!!!!
    What an absolutely stunning show. Even managed to impress my "grumpy-old-man" dad who likes nothing but his couch. He (almost) agreed to a road trip with me to see the show again at the Rose Bowl. The show started out so simple, with just a few lights and some of the early hits, and then became a visual and auditory feast when the familiar chords of Streets began and the screen lit up. I was really looking forward to hearing Exit live, and holy cow did they ever deliver! A stunning, raging, beast of a song! The icing on the cake? A never-before heard or played song from the as yet unreleased Songs Of Experience. Incredibly beautiful and heartfelt, and an amazing way to end an amazing night. See you in Pasadena!
    marlix
    Best Anniversary Ever!!!!
    It was a Beautiful Day!!!! Celebrating our 35th anniversary together while our 18 year old does her physics homework while absorbing the incredible awe and magnificence of U2.. We just kicked back and enjoyed listening to rehearsal and bits of Beautiful Day, Red Hill Mining Town and others. Just an incredible moment for all three of us and thankful Gate E and the concrete were dry
    Second Generation U2 Fan
    I'm bringing my 7yr old daughter to the show. We have GA seats and hoping to get close enough for her to have a good time.
    Bullet_The_Blue_Sky
    I've come full circle 30 & 30
    Not only the 30th anniversary of The Joshua Tree, but 30 years since i first saw U2 live in Vancouver during the Joshua Tree Tour! I still have that original tour shirt too, which I will be wearing to the concert in the Red Zone - although it fits a little tighter than it did 30 years ago :-)
    Brie
    Inspiration
    You gave me the inspiration to write songs. . Patricia Dunphy
    Doug Plumeri
    Gates Opening?
    Heading out from Chicago to Vancouver and Seattle for the shows.. Anyone know what time the gates will open?
    dsb10
    U2 Vancouver
    I can't wait to bring my wife to this awesome event. A note to MarcWatkins if you get this, I have 2 extra tickets to the show (not sure if I'm allowed to do this here) if your sister in law needs. Not looking to make money on it, even close to face value would do.
    MarcWatkins
    Good luck Vancouver with the opening gig
    My sister-in-law lives in Vancouver and couldn't get tickets, didn't help when I told her that I was taking her sister to see them in Brussels - August 1st ! Can't wait ! Hope opening night is fantastic ! So much nostalgia for this album and tour !
    hipmom
    Counting the days!
    Been a U2 fan for years and have only missed one tour - even through pregnancies, newborns and such. SUPER EXCITED to check you guys out in Vancouver!!! Only 7 sleeps left!!!
    CynthiaJeanne
    Birthday Celebrations!
    May 12 my twins turn 15. I turn 50 and I am celebrating with a band who inspired me. I saw U2 30 years ago in Vancouver and now I get to share this memory in the making with my twins!! So excited!!
    allad1nsane00
    I made something.....
    (; See you all in Vancouver - Adrienne
    allad1nsane00
    SEE YOU ALL IN VANCOUVER
    Role call - I'm in on the 11th...
    johnnysocco
    johnnysocco
    Sooo jealous of everyone in the northern hemisphere and still praying that the best band in the world turns its gaze Downunder to visit Australia and One Tree Hill across the ditch. Having said that I do hope Willie and his team have a plan to defeat mother nature and her winds that blow the great U2 sound around in such a way that people up the back can barely hear what song is playing. The sound is more important than the visuals, as it was in the beginning, is now and for ever shall be.
    skiutah60
    JTree!
    Thank you...cannot wait to be once again inspired!
    viet_le
    Grateful for the experience of a life ti
    I am truly grateful to U2 for bringing this album full circle so that I can share it with my wife. According to my wife, it takes 3 loops of the Joshua Tree to complete her MRI scans. This album and U2 has been by my wife's side through countless MRIs, 2 open heart surgeries, and 16 heart operations. And now, we are going to this concert! Thank you U2 for bringing this album full circle! Love and respect. See you May 12th at BC Place!!!
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