U2 played their first show of 2019 on Friday evening (November 8th) in Aukland, New Zealand. The tour kickoff sees the legendary Irish rockers bringing their landmark album, The Joshua Tree, to parts of the world that the band promised they'd bring it to, according to Bono. The tour will see U2 hitting up New Zealand, Australia, Asia and India, and it's their first tour since wrapping their Experience + Innocence Tour exactly one year ago. It also features support from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds!
They brought with them a 24-song setlist to the Mount Smart Stadium in Aukland, where they fired of the set with four of their staple hits from the eighties U2 era. They started with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and ended on "Pride (In the Name of Love)" before they dove head first in The Joshua Tree, performed in sequencing order.
The album was released in 1987, but the icons have made the songs transcend generations, especially in their performance as they play their Trump-bashing video in the intro of "Exit" and add other politically charged snippets throughout the the album's performance.
They also played an especially heartfelt version of "One Tree Hill," which was written for their friend and crew member Greg Carroll, a young Māori man they met in Auckland back in 1984. He tragically died in a motorcycle accident shortly after in 1986.
“We sort of adopted him, or perhaps it was the other way around,” Bono told the crowd in Auckland. “But we were very grateful for his companionship over those precious times together. He was taken from us too soon, but in a certain way, he’s still very present. So this is for Greg Carroll.”
Watch them performing it here:
After performing all 12 songs, the band went into a set of eight songs that were released after The Joshua Tree like "Vertigo," "Beautiful Day" and eventually ending on "One." See the full setlist below!
All of U2's dates on this tour are listed below!
11-09 Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Stadium
11-12 Brisbane, Australia - SunCorp Stadium
11-15 Melbourne, Australia - Marvel Stadium
11-19 Adelaide, Australia - Adelaide Oval
11-22 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Cricket Ground
11-23 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Cricket Ground
11-27 Perth, Australia - Optus Stadium
11-30 Kallang, Singapore - National Stadium
12-01 Kallang, Singapore - National Stadium
12-04 Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena
12-05 Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena
12-08 December Seoul, South Korea - Gocheok Sky Dome
12-11 Manila, Philipines - Philipine Arena
12-15 Mumbai, India - DY Patil Stadium