When U2 embark on their Joshua Tree 30th anniversary tour in May, Bono has two goals:
1: "That it is a transcendent night of rock n roll.
2: "If I were let to have even more lofty ambitions for this rock show, I would love if it became an opportunity for our audience and ourselves to ask the question: What is it these days to be an American or a European?… 30 years ago, The Joshua Tree found common ground by reaching for the higher ground. This is a tour for red and blue, the coast and the heartland...because music can pull people together as surely as politics can pull people apart. It’s a great canvas and it would be amazing if it could still be a high-voltage meditation on what’s happening now."
On the band's website, Bono adds, "The Joshua Tree tour started out as us just doing one or two shows, maybe even a festival for fun, but the more we thought about it, the more excited we got, and the more apt the subject matter of those songs felt for these times."