вЂњOneвЂќ was dedicated to the battle against H.I.V./AIDS and to BonoвЂ™s antipoverty organization, ONE. Graphics turned вЂњUltraviolet (Light My Way)вЂќ into a celebration of present and historical - make that herstorical - female achievers. Songs from U2вЂ™s post-1980s catalog were linked to causes. For вЂњMothers of the Disappeared,вЂќ an elegy for political prisoners, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam sang a verse, and U2 was also joined by Ben Harper and the concertвЂ™s openers, Mumford & Sons. вЂњRunning to Stand StillвЂќ is a portrait of an addict, while вЂњRed Hill Mining TownвЂќ contemplates vanishing mining jobs. Some of its songs hold eerie resonances with present American problems. One reason to revive вЂњThe Joshua TreeвЂќ is that its concerns - personal, societal, mystical - havenвЂ™t disappeared. It doesnвЂ™t write scolding protests it strives for empathy, hope and, ultimately, exaltation.

A backlash would dismiss similar efforts as naГЇve or pretentious, but U2 has persisted.

вЂњThe Joshua TreeвЂќ was a high-water mark of an era when leading rockers were eager to be role models and do-gooders, giving benefit concerts like Live Aid and Amnesty InternationalвЂ™s Conspiracy of Hope tour, which both included U2. on drums, Adam Clayton on bass and the Edge on guitar tore into the urgent rhythmic flux of вЂњWhere the Streets Have No Name.вЂќ Against the craggy postpunk groove of вЂњBullet the Blue Sky,вЂќ both BonoвЂ™s falsetto and the EdgeвЂ™s guitar leads were keening sirens. The band was dwarfed, but the music wasnвЂ™t. вЂњThe Joshua TreeвЂќ was performed against that video backdrop, often with starkly beautiful desert scenes by Anton Corbijn, the photographer for the вЂњJoshua TreeвЂќ album cover and many other U2 graphics.

U2 the joshua tree scene