U2 Joshua Tree Tour: The 1987 Original and the 2017 and 2019 Anniversary Tours

The Joshua Tree Tour ran from April 2 to Dec. 20, 1987, with 109 shows for 3.17 million fans. Both the first and last shows were in Tempe, Arizona. It was U2’s first tour as a stadium band, and its North American run was the highest-grossing of 1987.

Thirty years later, U2 brought the album back on the road. The Joshua Tree Tours of 2017 and 2019 played 66 shows and grossed US$390.8 million, making 2017’s leg the highest-grossing tour in the world that year.

The 1987 Joshua Tree Tour

The tour opened at Arizona State University’s Activity Center in Tempe and played three legs: North American arenas, a European summer run, and a North American stadium leg. It closed on Dec. 20, 1987 at Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium.

U2’s first US headlining stadium show came on April 30, 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome, in front of 51,718 people. In North America alone the tour played 79 shows, sold 2,035,539 tickets and grossed $35.1 million.

The production was famously simple. A video screen didn’t appear until Sept. 20, 1987 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Guests and openers

Bob Dylan joined U2 on stage in Los Angeles on April 20, 1987, and Bruce Springsteen guested at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium on Sept. 25. B.B. King opened the final Tempe and Fort Worth shows.

Other openers across the year included The Pretenders, Lone Justice, Los Lobos, UB40, Big Audio Dynamite and Lou Reed.

Rattle and Hum

The 1987 tour was filmed for Rattle and Hum, the 1988 film and album. A Paris show from the tour was later released as Live from Paris in 2007.

The Joshua Tree Tours 2017 and 2019

The anniversary tour opened May 12, 2017 at Vancouver’s BC Place and sold 1.1 million tickets in its first 24 hours. The 2017 leg grossed $317 million from 2.71 million tickets.

The 2019 leg added 15 shows in Oceania and Asia, ending Dec. 15, 2019 in Mumbai, India. It was U2’s last tour before the 2023–24 Las Vegas Sphere residency.

The stage, designed by Stufish and built by Tait Towers, centred on a 200 ft by 45 ft LED screen showing a Joshua tree silhouette. Films by long-time U2 photographer Anton Corbijn played on it.

From the Joshua Tree to Carnaval de Luz

U2’s next stadium tour, the Carnaval de Luz world tour, opens Feb. 23, 2027 in Mexico City. See U2 tour 2027 dates and tickets and the expected U2 setlist.