12/27



U2 has just delivered an unexpected but welcome Christmas present for fans. Not only is there a new album on the way in 2017, but they’ll be hitting the road for a very special outing.

In a video posted without fanfare Sunday on their website and other social media, and titled “Happy Christmas,” the band is gathered in a recording studio. The Edge strums “The Little Drummer Boy” and Bono sings along, while Larry Mullen, Jr. and Adam Clayton decorate a tree behind them.

“Next year’s going to be a big year for the U2 group,” says Bono. “We have Songs of Experience coming, and to honor thirty years of Joshua Tree, we have some very special shows coming. Very special.”

The Joshua Tree, U2’s fifth studio album, was released March 7, 1987 and is still considered one of the band’s master works.

Link

thedoorkeeper said:

I'll believe it when I see it. In the past Bono has talked of new music being released and then it isn't. We shall see this time.

i think they've been talking about having 3 albums ready, for the last 3 times they released
an album. however, it still seems to take a long time between albums. i wonder why. but i'm
fairly excited for "songs of experience" though. i'll always give new U2 a listen.

The European leg is scheduled to start July 8 at Twickenham in London, and wraps Aug. 1 at Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussels, Belgium. U2's hometown fans can mark July 22 on the calendar; that's the date Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton take the stage at Dublin's Croke Park.

Produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and peppered with the hits "With or Without You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Where the Streets Have No Name," The Joshua Tree cemented U2's status as the biggest band on the planet. The LP peaked at No. 1 in the U.S., the U.K. and across Europe and is now diamond certified by the RIAA.

"Recently I listened back to The Joshua Tree for the first time in nearly 30 years… it's quite an opera," comments Bono in a statement announcing the tour. "A lot of emotions which feel strangely current, love, loss, broken dreams, seeking oblivion, polarisation… all the greats... I've sung some of these songs a lot… but never all of them. I'm up for it, if our audience is as excited as we are… it's gonna be a great night."

The Edge shared his thoughts on the upcoming dates and what fans should expect to see and hear. "I don't think we're going to go overboard in reinventing the wheel, but we'll definitely take those aesthetic ideas and kind of update them somewhat," he told Rolling Stone. "I don't think we're going to go overboard in reinventing the wheel, but we'll definitely take those aesthetic ideas and kind of update them somewhat. This is The Joshua Tree 2017. It's not The Joshua Tree 1986."

The support slots on U2's North America dates will be filled by either Mumford & Sons, OneRepublic or The Lumineers, while Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will open in Europe.

Live Nation Global Touring will produce the run, which currently features 25 dates. Its U2's first stadium tour since the 2009-2011 360 trek, which entered the history books with a gross of more than $736,137,344 and total attendance of 7,268,430, both the highest tour tallies ever reported to Billboard.

The band's most recent run, the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE arena tour, ran from May to December 2015.

2017 is shaping as a particularly busy year for U2. In a recent interview with Q, Bono and The Edge both confirmed they're hard at work on the follow-up to 2014's Songs of Innocence and that it is expected to drop before the year is out.

The general ticket on sale starts Jan. 16 in Europe and the following day in North America. For more information visit u2.com and livenation.com.

U2: The Joshua Tree Tour 2017:

NORTH AMERICA DATES:

May 12 - Vancouver, BC - BC Place*

May 14 - Seattle, WA - CenturyLink Field*

May 17 - Santa Clara, CA - Levi's Stadium*

May 20 - Los Angeles, CA - Rose Bowl+

May 24 - Houston, TX - NRG Stadium+

May 26 - Dallas, TX - AT&T Stadium+

June 3 - Chicago, IL - Soldier Field+

June 7 - Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Field+

June 8-11 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival

June 11 - Miami, FL - Hard Rock Stadium^

June 14 - Tampa, FL - Raymond James Stadium^

June 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Lincoln Financial Field+

June 20 - Washington DC - FedExField+

June 23 - Toronto, ON - Rogers Centre+

June 25 - Boston, MA - Gillette Stadium+

June 28 - East Rutherford, NJ - MetLife Stadium+

July 1 - Cleveland, OH - FirstEnergy Stadium^

17

* with Mumford & Sons

+ with The Lumineers

^ with OneRepublic

EUROPE DATES:

July 8 - London, UK - Twickenham

July 12 - Berlin, DE - Olympic Stadium

July 15 - Rome, IT - Olympic Stadium

July 18 - Barcelona, ES - Olympic Stadium

July 22 - Dublin, IE - Croke Park

July 25 - Paris, FR - Stade de France

July 29 - Amsterdam, NE - Amsterdam Arena

August 1 - Brussels, BE - Stade Roi Baudouin

with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

So exciting. I am really looking forward to Songs of Experience. I know people were beyond annoyed by the free album giveaway straight into iTunes, but I think Songs of Innocence had some of their best lyrical content to date. I'm really looking forward to a follow up/companion to that. As for the tour, I plan on attending the San Fran show. After a year of what felt like nothing but musical losses, it's nice to look forward to something from the music world.

jillybean said:

So exciting. I am really looking forward to Songs of Experience. I know people were beyond annoyed by the free album giveaway straight into iTunes, but I think Songs of Innocence had some of their best lyrical content to date. I'm really looking forward to a follow up/companion to that. As for the tour, I plan on attending the San Fran show. After a year of what felt like nothing but musical losses, it's nice to look forward to something from the music world.

Totally agree. They really blundered that itunes giveaway idea (maybe Apple shouldn't have been such arrogant assholes to put the album in a user's library without their consent. It should have been an option to download it, not force-fed. I don't blame U2 for that, even though they were the ones who unfairly took the most heat). But I looked past it, and actually really enjoyed the album over time. The last 4-5 songs on the album are amazing, especially "Sleep Like a Baby". That song is super-dope, like Achtung Baby-era dope. I still think No Line on the Horizon is probably their best album post-90s, but SOI is still cool.

eww

Reading between the lines, here is what U2 are thinking:

.

- Songs Of Innocence pissed everyone off (iPhones) and, though sort-of well received critically, didn't greatly please many fans and basically bypassed the general public

- People are sort-of tired of U2 now

- Our recent attempts at being major hypes failed

.

So, to deal with those problems, here's what they're planning:

.

- Path of least resistance to sell tickets to long-ago fans = Joshua Tree retro-tour

- Get everyone talking about us again

- Immediately release new album (hopefully to big hype)

.

.

Why these guys are so obsessed with selling themselves at this stage of the game, I will never understand.

kygermo said:

jillybean said:

So exciting. I am really looking forward to Songs of Experience. I know people were beyond annoyed by the free album giveaway straight into iTunes, but I think Songs of Innocence had some of their best lyrical content to date. I'm really looking forward to a follow up/companion to that. As for the tour, I plan on attending the San Fran show. After a year of what felt like nothing but musical losses, it's nice to look forward to something from the music world.

Totally agree. They really blundered that itunes giveaway idea (maybe Apple shouldn't have been such arrogant assholes to put the album in a user's library without their consent. It should have been an option to download it, not force-fed. I don't blame U2 for that, even though they were the ones who unfairly took the most heat). But I looked past it, and actually really enjoyed the album over time. The last 4-5 songs on the album are amazing, especially "Sleep Like a Baby". That song is super-dope, like Achtung Baby-era dope. I still think No Line on the Horizon is probably their best album post-90s, but SOI is still cool.

You know, I really need to revisit that album. I'm a U2 fan..not a die hard but a fan nonetheless and have a few of their albums. I really felt that the free album on iTunes was a bit of bore upon the first few listens, but I probably should revisit it and give it another chance. I'm looking forward to new music from them.

ThePanther said:

Reading between the lines, here is what U2 are thinking:

.

- Songs Of Innocence pissed everyone off (iPhones) and, though sort-of well received critically, didn't greatly please many fans and basically bypassed the general public

- People are sort-of tired of U2 now

- Our recent attempts at being major hypes failed

.

So, to deal with those problems, here's what they're planning:

.

- Path of least resistance to sell tickets to long-ago fans = Joshua Tree retro-tour

- Get everyone talking about us again

- Immediately release new album (hopefully to big hype)

.

.

Why these guys are so obsessed with selling themselves at this stage of the game, I will never understand.

Well why shouldn't they continue to sell themselves? They are all original members, in good health enough to create and STILL perform music today. Very few bands have survived for 30 plus years and can still hold and play a note. I say more power to them. They should keep doing it for as long as they can. It's surely not stopping The Rolling Stones.

missfee said:

kygermo said:

Totally agree. They really blundered that itunes giveaway idea (maybe Apple shouldn't have been such arrogant assholes to put the album in a user's library without their consent. It should have been an option to download it, not force-fed. I don't blame U2 for that, even though they were the ones who unfairly took the most heat). But I looked past it, and actually really enjoyed the album over time. The last 4-5 songs on the album are amazing, especially "Sleep Like a Baby". That song is super-dope, like Achtung Baby-era dope. I still think No Line on the Horizon is probably their best album post-90s, but SOI is still cool.

You know, I really need to revisit that album. I'm a U2 fan..not a die hard but a fan nonetheless and have a few of their albums. I really felt that the free album on iTunes was a bit of bore upon the first few listens, but I probably should revisit it and give it another chance. I'm looking forward to new music from them.

Ahh well, like U2's past 3-4 albums in general, a good chunk of the album IS boring if you ask me. But you're also talking to somebody who thinks the weirder U2 got with their music, the better they were. But those last few songs on it like I mentioned before are great (and pick up the slack from the rest of the album) because it sounds like U2 are somewhat taking risks again, probably because of Danger Mouse. Like for example, I'm a HUUUUGE fan of Zooropa, probably my favorite U2 record. The last 1/4 of SOI's songs wouldn't sound out of place on Zooropa, much less Achtung. U2 are never going to break new ground with their music again, that's been proven since All That You Can't Leave Behind. But they're still capable of writing great songs, you just have to look a little harder for them. Still an absolutely exceptional live band, though. Second only to the first time I saw P back in 04 in shows I've attended.

getxxxx said:

missfee said:

Is it just me or was the whole free download thing people just HAVING to be upset about something in the new millenium?

As for their new stuff there's always something that sticks out. If they were still having radio hits this certainly would've been one of them:

I'd be down to see the tour! but have no interest in any new U2 music. U2 have made the same album for 16 years now it's like they have been trying to apologize for Pop and never wanted to experiment again. 90's U2 was fucking amazing and the band seemed to really branch out musically and even show a sense of humor. Nowadays it's the same hoe hum arena rock shit and i'm bored with it.

U2 Sells 1.1 Million Tickets in 24 Hours; Adds Extra "The Joshua Tree" Dates

Ugh, only stadiums...

The Edge Breaks Down U2's Upcoming Tour

http://rol.st/2jurjEU

Identity said: