The Joshua Tree Tour
Tour by U2 | |
Location |
|
---|---|
Associated album | The Joshua Tree |
Start date | 2 April 1987 |
End date | 20 December 1987 |
Legs | 3 |
No. of shows | 110 |
Attendance | 3 million[1] |
Box office | $40 million[2] |
U2 concert chronology |
The Joshua Tree Tour was a
The Joshua Tree Tour and its album were a huge commercial and critical success, continuing to greatly increase U2's popularity. Songs from The Joshua Tree would become concert staples from then on. Venues were quickly sold out and tickets were difficult to get. Despite this, Bono suffered injuries and the band were unprepared with their newfound fame and the tour's intensity. Their experiences combined with the controversial 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.
Itinerary
Like their previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was a minimalistic, austere production,[4] and U2 used this outlet for addressing political and social concerns.[5] One such issue was Arizona Governor Evan Mecham's canceling the state's observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.[1] 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.[1]
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.[6] 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."[7]
The first leg took place in American indoor
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.[8] The final show of the European leg is at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork on 8 August.[9]
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
On 30 April, the band played the
The Joshua Tree elevated the group to a new level of popularity; its tour sold out arenas and stadiums around the world, the first time the band had consistently played venues of that size.[1] The Joshua Tree and its singles had become huge hits and the band had reached a new height in their popularity. Songs from the album became staples of the tour's set lists, as the group regularly performed eight of the record's eleven tracks, and the only song not to be played was "Red Hill Mining Town".[3] Tickets for shows were often very hard to get, especially on the first American leg when they only played in arenas.
That first leg was also organised around multiple-night stands in centres of U2 fandom along the two U.S. coasts, with only a very few dates in the middle of the country. These multiple-night stands also featured an unusual set list twist. All but the last night would begin in conventional concert fashion with the rousing pair of "Where the Streets Have No Name" into "I Will Follow", but the last night in each city would begin with the house lights fully up and the band performing the early 1960s classic "Stand by Me", with guitarist the Edge singing one verse, all intended as a friendly, informal opening. The house lights would then stay up for "Pride (In the Name of Love)", only going off at the end of it; the rest of the set list would be consequently scrambled from the norm.
The new level of fame, exposure and the frantic nature of the tour put U2 under a large amount of stress.[12] They were dissatisfied creatively, and Bono believed they were musically unprepared for their success.[13][14] Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. said, "We were the biggest, but we weren't the best",[13] and for Bono the tour was "one of the worst times of [their] musical life".[1] On the road, the group dealt with death threats, along with injuries that Bono sustained from performing. The band hinted that the stresses of touring led them to enjoy the "rock and roll lifestyle" they previously avoided.[1]
Cover performances
At Wembley Stadium in London, Bono sang the Beatles' "Help!", dedicating it to those in the audience who were dreading another five years of the recently re-elected Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. As another sign of the group's confidence, they also covered the Beatles' heretofore untouchable "Helter Skelter", declaring "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles; we're stealin' it back." Other notable covers from the tour included Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody", Peggy Seeger's "The Ballad of Springhill", Neil Young's "Southern Man", the Impressions' "People Get Ready" (during which Bono would invite a fan to play guitar on the song) and numerous Bob Dylan covers including "Maggie's Farm" and "I Shall Be Released". On 20 April, following a performance of "I Shall Be Released" in Los Angeles, the band surprised the audience by bringing out Dylan himself for a performance of Knockin' on Heaven's Door. During the performance, Bono jokingly said, "I usually make up my own words to Bob Dylan songs. He says he doesn't mind." Dylan replied in kind, saying "I do it too." Bono often would sing excerpts of other songs, notably ones by the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", near the end of the song "Bad" as he had done during the Live Aid performance and would do on later tours.
U2 covered Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" at their 25 September show at Philadelphia's old JFK Stadium, accompanied by a guest performance from Bruce Springsteen.
The band performed "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" at their final concert in Tempe, Arizona on 20 December 1987. The band had recorded the track for the compilation album A Very Special Christmas months earlier on the European leg of their tour.
Filming for Rattle and Hum documentary
The band filmed and recorded various shows from the tour for the documentary and album
The band also gave a brief, free performance in
At least part of the band's second concert in
Colour outdoor concert footage was taken from the band's Tempe, Arizona shows on 19 and 20 December. The initial plan was that the colour outdoor footage would have been taken during 2 shows in Buenos Aires, but during the tour planning this became impossible due to heavy costs to transport all the equipment.[16] The shows were the final two of the tour, having been held in the same city in which the tour opened.
Support acts
A number of
On 1 November in Indianapolis, U2 appeared as their own support act, disguised as "the Dalton Brothers", playing between sets by BoDeans and Los Lobos. They were dressed in Western outfits and wigs while Bono spoke with a twangy southern accent. Playing their own country-influenced song, "Lucille", and Leon Payne's "Lost Highway", only some of the audience in the front few rows recognised them. "The Dalton Brothers" also appeared at concerts in Los Angeles and Hampton, Virginia.[15]
B.B. King was the opening act for both final shows of the tour on 19 and 20 December at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, and in Fort Worth same year.
Commercial performance
On the first North American leg of the tour, the band grossed US$7,501,329 from 465,452 tickets sold across 29 shows. For the Las Vegas show, 1,063 tickets remained unsold, equating to a 99.77% sellout for the 1st American leg.[17] The 79 North American shows on the tour sold 2,035,539 tickets[18] and grossed $35.1 million, making it the highest-grossing North American tour of the year.[19]
In total, the tour grossed US$40 million[2] and drew 3 million attendees.[1]
Set list
This set list is representative of the tour's average setlist as conducted by Setlist.fm, which represents all concerts for the duration of the tour.[20]
- "Where the Streets Have No Name"
- "I Will Follow"
- "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
- "Trip Through Your Wires"
- "MLK"
- "The Unforgettable Fire"
- "Exit"
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
- "In God's Country"
- "Gloria"
- "Help!" (The Beatles cover)
- "People Get Ready" (The Impressions cover)
- "Bad"
- "October"
- "New Year's Day"
- "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
- Encore
Tour dates
Date | City | Country | Venue | Opening acts | Attendance | Revenue |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leg 1: North America[21][22] | ||||||
2 April 1987 | Tempe | United States | Arizona State University Activity Center
|
Lone Justice | 25,113 / 25,113 | $389,251 |
4 April 1987 | ||||||
5 April 1987 | Tucson | Tucson Community Center
|
8,032 / 8,032 | $124,496 | ||
7 April 1987 | Houston | The Summit
|
27,251 / 27,251 | $368,974 | ||
8 April 1987 | ||||||
10 April 1987 | Las Cruces | Pan American Center | 12,500 / 12,500 | $185,580 | ||
12 April 1987 | Paradise | Thomas & Mack Center | 8,637 / 9,700 | $138,192 | ||
13 April 1987 | San Diego | San Diego Sports Arena
|
27,937 / 27,937 | $450,384 | ||
14 April 1987 | ||||||
17 April 1987 | Los Angeles | Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena | 74,176 / 74,176 | $1,298,080 | ||
18 April 1987 | ||||||
20 April 1987 | ||||||
21 April 1987 | ||||||
22 April 1987 | ||||||
24 April 1987 | Daly City | Cow Palace | 25,785 / 25,785 | $425,453 | ||
25 April 1987 | ||||||
29 April 1987 | Rosemont | Rosemont Horizon
|
16,854 / 16,854 | $270,923 | ||
30 April 1987 | Pontiac | Pontiac Silverdome | 51,718 / 51,718 | $853,347 | ||
2 May 1987 | Worcester | Centrum in Worcester | 37,482 / 37,482 | $601,739 | ||
3 May 1987 | ||||||
4 May 1987 | ||||||
7 May 1987 | Hartford | Hartford Civic Center
|
47,327 / 47,327 | $773,632 | ||
8 May 1987 | ||||||
9 May 1987 | ||||||
11 May 1987 | East Rutherford | Brendan Byrne Arena
|
102,640 / 102,640 | $1,621,278 | ||
12 May 1987 | ||||||
13 May 1987 | ||||||
15 May 1987 | ||||||
16 May 1987 | ||||||
Leg 2: Europe[8] | ||||||
27 May 1987 | Rome | Italy | Stadio Flaminio | The Pretenders Big Audio Dynamite Lone Justice |
— | — |
29 May 1987 | Modena | Stadio Alberto Braglia | ||||
30 May 1987 | ||||||
2 June 1987 | London | England | Wembley Arena | Hurrah! | ||
3 June 1987 | Birmingham | National Exhibition Centre | ||||
6 June 1987 | Gothenburg | Sweden | Eriksberg | The Pretenders Big Audio Dynamite Lone Justice | ||
12 June 1987 | London | England | Wembley Stadium | The Pretenders Spear of Destiny World Party | ||
13 June 1987 | Lou Reed The Pogues Lone Justice | |||||
15 June 1987 | Paris | France | Le Zénith | Lone Justice | ||
17 June 1987 | Cologne | West Germany | Müngersdorfer Stadium
|
The Pretenders Lou Reed Big Audio Dynamite | ||
21 June 1987 | Basel | Switzerland | St. Jakob Stadium | |||
24 June 1987 | Belfast | Northern Ireland | King's Hall | Lou Reed | ||
27 June 1987 | Dublin | Ireland | Croke Park | Lou Reed The Pogues The Dubliners Light a Big Fire | ||
28 June 1987 | Christy Moore The Pretenders Lou Reed Hothouse Flowers | |||||
1 July 1987 | Leeds | England | Elland Road | The Pretenders The Mission The Fall | ||
4 July 1987 | Paris | France | Hippodrome de Vincennes | UB40 The Pogues | ||
8 July 1987 | Brussels | Belgium | Forest National | In Tua Nua | ||
10 July 1987 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | Feijenoord Stadion
|
The Pretenders In Tua Nua | ||
11 July 1987 | The Pretenders Big Audio Dynamite In Tua Nua | |||||
15 July 1987 | Madrid | Spain | Santiago Bernabéu Stadium | The Pretenders UB40 Big Audio Dynamite | ||
18 July 1987 | Montpellier | France | Espace Richter | The Pretenders UB40 World Party | ||
21 July 1987 | Munich | West Germany | Olympiahalle | In Tua Nua | ||
22 July 1987 | ||||||
25 July 1987 | Cardiff | Wales | Cardiff Arms Park | The Pretenders The Alarm The Silencers | ||
29 July 1987 | Glasgow | Scotland | Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
|
Hoodoo Gurus | ||
30 July 1987 | Hue and Cry | |||||
1 August 1987 | Edinburgh | Murrayfield Stadium | The Pogues The Mission Love and Money Runrig | |||
3 August 1987 | Birmingham | England | National Exhibition Centre | Hoodoo Gurus | ||
4 August 1987 | ||||||
8 August 1987 | Cork | Ireland | Páirc Uí Chaoimh | UB40 The Subterraneans The Dubliners | ||
Leg 3: North America[23][24] | ||||||
10 September 1987 | Uniondale | United States | Nassau Coliseum | — | 34,899 / 34,899 | $648,603 |
11 September 1987 | ||||||
12 September 1987 | Philadelphia | The Spectrum | 17,622 / 17,622 | $323,509 | ||
14 September 1987 | East Rutherford | Giants Stadium | 54,780 / 54,780 | $1,040,820 | ||
17 September 1987 | Boston | Boston Garden | 31,018 / 31,018 | $589,342 | ||
18 September 1987 | ||||||
20 September 1987 | Washington, D.C. | Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium | 51,016 / 53,056 | $969,304 | ||
22 September 1987 | Foxborough | Sullivan Stadium
|
55,378 / 55,378 | $1,051,137 | ||
23 September 1987 | New Haven | New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum
|
10,535 / 10,535 | $177,960 | ||
25 September 1987 | Philadelphia | John F. Kennedy Stadium | 86,145 / 86,145 | $1,593,683 | ||
28 September 1987 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | 39,510 / 39,510 | $744,838 | ||
29 September 1987 | ||||||
1 October 1987 | Montreal | Canada | Olympic Stadium | 66,117 / 66,117 | $1,243,660 | |
3 October 1987 | Toronto | CNE Stadium
|
62,846 / 62,846 | $1,194,194 | ||
6 October 1987 | Cleveland | United States | Cleveland Municipal Stadium | 50,081 / 50,081 | $901,458 | |
7 October 1987 | Buffalo | Buffalo Memorial Auditorium | 17,065 / 17,065 | $298,638 | ||
9 October 1987 | Syracuse | Carrier Dome
|
39,157 / 39,157 | $685,248 | ||
11 October 1987 | Rochester | Silver Stadium | 30,500 / 30,500 | $564,250 | ||
13 October 1987 | Pittsburgh | Three Rivers Stadium | — | — | ||
20 October 1987 | Iowa City | Carver–Hawkeye Arena | 15,846 / 15,846 | $261,469 | ||
22 October 1987 | Champaign | Assembly Hall
|
BoDeans | 16,193 / 16,193 | $275,281 | |
23 October 1987 | Lexington | Rupp Arena | — | 22,815 / 22,815 | $387,855 | |
25 October 1987 | St. Louis | St. Louis Arena | 18,237 / 18,237 | $317,153 | ||
26 October 1987 | Kansas City | Kemper Arena
|
17,168 / 17,168 | $297,535 | ||
28 October 1987 | Rosemont | Rosemont Horizon | 51,998 / 51,998 | $941,471 | ||
29 October 1987 | ||||||
30 October 1987 | ||||||
1 November 1987 | Indianapolis | Hoosier Dome
|
Los Lobos The Dalton Brothers |
38,441/ 38,441 | $634,277 | |
3 November 1987 | Saint Paul | St. Paul Civic Center | — | 35,152 / 35,152 | $615,160 | |
4 November 1987 | ||||||
7 November 1987 | Denver | McNichols Arena | 34,000 / 34,000 | $605,779 | ||
8 November 1987 | ||||||
11 November 1987 | San Francisco | Justin Herman Plaza
|
— | — | ||
12 November 1987 | Vancouver | Canada | BC Place Stadium
|
54,204 / 54,204 | $1,012,878 | |
14 November 1987 | Oakland | United States | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
|
The Pretenders BoDeans |
103,260 / 119,000 | $2,013,570 |
15 November 1987 | — | |||||
17 November 1987 | Los Angeles | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 132,925 / 142,000 | $2,590,457 | ||
18 November 1987 | The Pretenders The Dalton Brothers BoDeans | |||||
22 November 1987 | Austin | Frank Erwin Center | — | 17,202 / 17,202 | $280,467 | |
23 November 1987 | Fort Worth | Tarrant County Convention Center
|
B.B. King
|
27,560 / 27,560 | $435,676 | |
24 November 1987 | ||||||
26 November 1987 | Baton Rouge | LSU Assembly Center
|
— | 15,042 / 15,042 | $249,025 | |
28 November 1987 | Murfreesboro | Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center | 11,619 / 11,619 | $203,333 | ||
3 December 1987 | Miami | Orange Bowl | — | — | ||
5 December 1987 | Tampa | Tampa Stadium | 58,865 / 58,865 | $1,089,003 | ||
8 December 1987 | Atlanta | The Omni | 32,734 / 32,734 | $572,845 | ||
9 December 1987 | ||||||
11 December 1987 | Hampton | Hampton Coliseum | 21,088 / 21,088 | $358,496 | ||
12 December 1987 | BoDeans | |||||
19 December 1987 | Tempe | Sun Devil Stadium
|
B.B. King | 110,450 / 110,450 | $552,340 | |
20 December 1987 | ||||||
Total | 1,946,920 / 1,974,838 | $33,312,043 |
See also
- List of highest-attended concerts
- List of highest-grossing concert tours
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Dalton, Stephen (October 2003). "How the West Was Won". Uncut. No. 77.
- ^ a b Mico, Ted (January 1989). "Hating U2". Spin. Vol. 4, no. 10. pp. 35–37, 76.
- ^ a b "U2 Joshua Tree Tour". U2Gigs. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ a b c McGee (2008), p. 110.
- ^ Rohter, Larry (15 March 1992). "A Chastened U2 Comes Down to Earth". The New York Times. p. H33. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
- ^ McGee (2008), p. 102.
- ^ U2 (July 2010). "Stairway to Devon − OK, Somerset!". Q. p. 103.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b de la Parra (2003), pp. 103–110
- ^ McGee (2008), p. 109.
- ^ McGee (2008), p. 104.
- ^ McGee (2008), pp. 110, 112
- ^ Graham, Bill (17 December 1987). "Band on the Run". Hot Press.
- ^ a b Fricke, David (1 October 1992). "U2 Finds What It's Looking For". Rolling Stone. No. 640. pp. 40+. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
- ^ Flanagan (1996), pp. 25–26
- ^ a b McGee (2008), p. 112
- ^ McGee (2008)
- ^ de la Parra (1996), p. 102.
- ^ Grossweiner, Bob (1992). "U2: It's A Business". Hit Parader. No. Special. p. 10–11.
- ^ Hilburn, Robert (23 January 1988). "U2's $35-Million Gross Is Highest for '87 Tour". Los Angeles Times. sec. Calendar, p. 1. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- ^ "Average setlist for tour: The Joshua Tree". Setlist.fm. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 79–102
- ^ North American 1st leg boxscore data:
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 16. 18 April 1987. p. 23. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 18. 2 May 1987. p. 36. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 19. 9 May 1987. p. 36. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 20. 16 May 1987. p. 26. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 21. 23 May 1987. p. 34. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 23. 6 June 1987. p. 41. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 16. 18 April 1987. p. 23.
- ^ de la Parra (2003), pp. 111–121
- ^ North American 2nd leg boxscore data:
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 39. 26 September 1987. p. 28. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 40. 3 October 1987. p. 29. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 41. 10 October 1987. p. 23. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 42. 17 October 1987. p. 34. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 43. 24 October 1987. p. 40. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 44. 31 October 1987. p. 24. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 45. 7 November 1987. p. 26. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 46. 14 November 1987. p. 24. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 47. 21 November 1987. p. 24. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 48. 28 November 1987. p. 35. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 49. 5 December 1987. p. 21. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 50. 12 December 1987. p. 19. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 51. 19 December 1987. p. 24. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses". Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 52. 26 December 1987. p. 42. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 100, no. 4. 23 January 1988. p. 26. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 100, no. 2. 9 January 1988. p. 25. ISSN 0006-2510.
- "Boxscore: Top Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 39. 26 September 1987. p. 28.
Bibliography
- de la Parra, Pimm Jal (2003). U2 Live: A Concert Documentary (second ed.). New York: ISBN 978-0-7119-9198-9.
- McGee, Matt (2008). U2: A Diary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84772-108-2.