U2 to tour The Joshua Tree this summer for 30th anniversary

Rock band U2 will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their seminal Joshua Tree album this summer by playing the album in full around the world.

The 25 shows include dates in London and at Dublin's Croke Park, where the band played a triumphant homecoming show on the original Joshua Tree tour.

Released in 1987, the album included hits such as Where the Streets Have No Name and With or Without You.

It sold 25 million copies, turning the band into stadium-filling superstars.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, U2 guitarist The Edge said the band had not yet decided how to structure the concerts.

"The show might not necessarily start with track one, side one - Where the Streets Have No Name - because we feel like maybe we need to build up to that moment," he said.

"So we're still in the middle of figuring out exactly how the running order will go."

Alongside the hits, fans will be looking forward to hearing some rarely-performed album tracks, including Trip Through Your Wires and In God's Country.

The song Red Hill Mining Town, a response to the 1980s miners' strike, will also receive its first live performance, having never featured in the band's setlists - although they rehearsed it during soundchecks in 1987.

"Recently I listened back to The Joshua Tree for the first time in nearly 30 years," said U2 frontman Bono, "It's quite an opera.

"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."

"It seems like we have come full circle from when The Joshua Tree songs were originally written, with global upheaval, extreme right wing politics and some fundamental human rights at risk," added guitarist The Edge.

"To celebrate the album - as the songs seem so relevant and prescient of these times too - we decided to do these shows, it feels right for now. We're looking forward to it."

Support acts confirmed for the tour include OneRepublic, The Lumineers and, in the UK and Europe, Noel Gallagher.

"It will be both a pleasure and an honour to play my part in what still remains the greatest show on earth," said Gallagher.

U2 also plan to release a new album, Songs of Experience, later this year.

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