Kevin Bronson on May 22nd, 2017

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It was the sound of 30 years ago, heard more than 3 miles away: U2’s “Joshua Tree Tour 2017” lived up to its hype over the weekend as the Dublin band brought its massive stage show to the Rose Bowl.

The middle of the show wad dedicated to the iconic 1987 album, performed front to back in front of a high-resolution, 200-by-45-foot video screen (composed of 1,040 individual panels) with new images by Dutch photographer and filmmaker, Anton Corbijn, whose photography accompanied the original album. While Corbijn’s visuals, from recent visits to Death Valley and Zabriskie Point, accompanied “The Joshua Tree,” the massive screen displayed footage from a Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan during “Miss Sarajevo,” whose title was updated to “Miss Syria.”

The Rose Bowl dates were the fourth and fifth shows on the tour, which will see U2 playing to 1.7 million people over 33 dates.

On Sunday, Bono dedicated “One Tree Hill” to the late Chris Cornell. (Saturday’s show started with a taped recording of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun.”)

The album performance was bookended by selection from U2’s catalog — “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “New Year’s Day” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)” to start the show, then highlights like “Bad,” “Beautiful Day” and “Elevation” after. They ended the show with a new song titled “The Little Things That Give You Away.”

Photos by David Benjamin