The Joshua Tree Tour 2017

'Midnight, our sons and daughters…’

When & Where
Sunday, September 3rd 2017, Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan; the 33rd show and opening night of the 2nd North American leg of the #U2TheJoshuaTree2017 

While it's been just two months since U2 wrapped the first North American leg of the Joshua Tree tour on July 1 in Cleveland, it's been a tumultuous time in the U.S. while the band toured Europe. As they returned to the U.S. Sunday night, they brought a few changes to the set from the first two legs of the tour, and had a couple of surprises up their sleeves for the Motor City crowd. The show opened with the familiar quartet of Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, Bad, and Pride (In the Name of Love) before launching into The Joshua Tree in its entirety.

 Social Posts
@danleach971 said: 'How poetic…It was 20 years ago this last April @U2 played their first ever stadium show at the Silverdome. Now brilliant at Ford Field…It's pretty amazing much of a perfect album Joshua Tree is…and played in its entirety is simply magical #U2TheJoshuaTree2017 

If You Had To Pick One Song 
'Mothers of the Disappeared' 

@donrumgayjr: 'U2 had Patti Smith join them onstage tonight in Detroit to sing Mothers of the [Disappeared]…I can die now.'

'In the trees our sons stand naked/Through the walls our daughter cry/See their tears in the rainfall.'

It was one of those 'epic' moments that U2 fans will be talking about for years—'Were you in Detroit the night Patti sang 'Mothers'?' Patti Smith, a longtime friend of the band who lived for more than a decade just outside Detroit with her late husband Fred 'Sonic' Smith and their son and daughter, joined them onstage for the final song on The Joshua Tree album. While Bono made his way back to the mainstage from the tree stage, Smith appeared center stage reciting lyrics from her iconic rock anthem 'People Have the Power' while Edge played the 'Mothers' distinctive opening riffs—'I was dreaming in my dreaming of an aspect bright and fair/and my sleeping it was broken by my dream it lingered near…' Then Bono and Patti they sang 'Mothers' together, trading lines, and the refrain. 
'I am a mother—my children were born in Detroit,' Smith said while the band played the second verse. 'All the mothers. Weep for the mothers….Hear their heartbeat.'  As the song drew to a close, Bono invited Smith, who is included among the 'luminous icons' of the HERSTORY multimedia montage that has accompanied 'Ultraviolet' throughout the tour, to sing acapella a few lines, which she interpreted in her inimitable style, singing: 'Hear their laughter in the wind, feel their tears in the rain. Hear their hearts beat. Hear their hearts beat.'

'Patti Smith!' Bono enthused. 'There is no one to compare with Patti Smith, our muse,' he said. 'We would not have written The Joshua Tree without her. What an honour to have her on stage.' 

What (else) did Bono Say?
During his introduction to 'One,' which closed the show, Bono had a message for the American audience: 'I would like to thank any of you here tonight who are making the world around you a bit better. Whatever organization you sign up to to … whatever you're doing, privately, whatever it is, I want to thank you tonight. That's what this country is. That's what this country is about, and I guess that's what we've learned from the last week,' he said, referring to the rescue and relief efforts around flood-ravaged Houston, Texas. 'For all the hate and all the bile and all the spleen and all the summoning of dark spirits in this country, with Hurricane Harvey we discover who America is. Who you are, what America is.

'And if I might say, America means everything to this band,' he continued. 'Second home—second home to us. Not just a country. An idea. A great idea. So we've so much at stake in seeing this idea of yours succeed. And we want to see you prosper here in Detroit, Michigan—extraordinary feeling in this city. So it's clear this country can do anything when it works together. You can put a man on the moon or rescue some people out of the flood water—it's America. Anything is possible when you work together as one.'

During the closing verses of 'One', a message appeared on the screen behind the band with the familiar Red Cross logo: Text HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation 

Review from Billboard
'Bono spent plenty of time honoring Detroit and its resurgence from a 2013 bankruptcy years ago during the two-hour show. Calling it "the city of invention, the city of reinvention, the city of history, fast becoming the city of the future," during "Bad," he spoke of the "extraordinary feeling in this city." And during "Pride (In The Name Of Love)," as excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech were show on the massive video screen, Bono noted that it was "a dream started in Detroit, on a march for freedom." (King first delivered the speech on June 23, 1963 during the Great March on Detroit -- two months before the more famous recitation during the March on Washington.)'
 
Review on U2.com 
dacol66  'Thank you U2. Magnificent evening at Ford Field (Detroit)! Got to share the experience with my 23 year old son who has grown up trying to understand dad's obsession with this band called U2. Now he understands. Bullet the Blue Sky and Exit were the highlights of the evening for me! I know Bono always thanks us for giving him and the boys a great life. I want to thank him, Larry, Adam and Edge for giving me so much and for being such a special part of my life.'

Other Noteworthy Stuff
Bono gave a shout out to Fred 'Sonic' Smith, the late guitarist and founding member of the legendary Detroit band MC5, who was married to Patti Smith until his death in 1994. Bono also dedicated 'One Tree Hill' to 'Rob'—the recently deceased father of three fans he'd met earlier in the day in Detroit. 'There's no end to grief, that's why we know there's now end to love.' 
Heather Heyer was added to the living pantheon of trailblazing women honored in the HERSTORY installation during 'Ultraviolet.' Heyer, 32, was killed when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters during a far-right rally on August 12. 

As 'One' and the show drew to a close Bono, added: 'Sisters and brothers across the States, we hold you in our prayers this Sunday evening,' he said. 'Amen. Are you ready now? Hear us coming Lord, hear us call, hear us knocking, knocking at your door….'

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