It is not yet the crack of dawn at U2 HQ in Dublin but the band has just announced the 30th anniversary edition of The Joshua Tree, to be released on 2 June. It is available for pre-order in a variety of formats; some CD, some vinyl, some with T-shirts, etc., but we'll leave the specific details on each edition to U2.com. As for the musical contents, which are largely the same across pre-order packages? Well the first CD (LP 1+2) is, perhaps quite obviously, The Joshua Tree itself. The 2007 remaster featured a slight change at the end of Mothers Of The Disappeared but was otherwise identical to the 1987 original.

The second CD (LP 3+4) included (and the one of most interest to us here at U2Gigs) is a live concert from Madison Square Garden in 1987. U2 performed in New York twice on The Joshua Tree Tour, and a specific date for the concert is not included in the U2.com article or in any of the preorders. However what we do know is the tracklist, and because it includes I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For twice we are confident in saying that the concert in question is 28 September 1987, the only time U2 have performed that song twice at a single concert. That second performance features the New Voices of Freedom gospel choir, which was memorably included on the Rattle & Hum album and is the only live song from this concert to have been released previously (the rehearsals shown in the film took place two days earlier). 21 songs were performed that night, of which 17 are included on the remastered release. The missing four songs are The Unforgettable Fire, Help, Bad, and Spanish Eyes, and they are likely omitted due to the space limitations of CDs and LPs.

The third CD (LP 5)  contains remixes of One Tree Hill, Bullet The Blue Sky, Running To Stand Still, With Or Without You, and Where The Streets Have No Name (all dubbed the "2017 Remix"), as well as a new mix of Red Hill Mining Town that was in the news a few weeks ago (the "2017 Mix"). The final CD (LP 6+7) contains B-sides and Outtakes, and is almost identical to the second CD of the 2007 remaster. Omitted is the single mix of Where the Streets Have No Name; in its place are new inclusions I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Lillywhite Alternative Mix '87) and One Tree Hill (Reprise 2017). Not included from the 2007 remaster are the Live from Paris concert, Outside It's America rockumentary, and music videos.

On a minor trivia note the Outtakes come before the B-Sides in the LP version, changing the official running order slightly between CD and LP. Though playing LP 7 and then LP 6 rectifies this. I thought it was interesting, but what do I know; it's 2am after all...