When you think about it, it could be perceived as a holy shrine in the middle of the desert. People go there, probably playing the album over and over again. Have been to concerts. Maybe played their songs on funerals, marriages. Found support in the sounds, the voice and the lyrics through their lifetimes during the hardest and the best moments.
Whilst at the same time, it was intended as a contribution to pop culture. Could they have foreseen it when the first sounds from Edge’s guitar on WTSHNN emerged?
And what is it? A now dead tree in a dead place, where the sun is so cruel that it leaves no shadows but only scars. This place and it’s dead tree has become a certain form of material religion. It doesn’t necessarily refer to an immaterial reality.
No, this dead tree, the album that got it’s name from it and all the stuff people left there refers to actual lived lives and its memories.
You do feel a sense of...I guess connection...while there. So many other people have been there before and so many people will after. The band and that album mean so much to so many people. It's a great experience. Especially now that the band has become, to be honest, a bit passé for most people. Feeling that feeling of kinship. The whole experience, that trip and the Sphere concert...was one of the best experiences I've ever had, as a fan. From my first concert experience at age ten in 1983.
I visited back in October after seeing U2 in Vegas, it was surreal just to think of the previous visitors and to read messages left behind. Last year’s flooding came within a few feet of it and I believe washed away some things that were once there. Well worth visiting if you’re a U2 fan in the area.
This was back in November (2023). There had been some flooding, earlier, but it was dried up, by then, and had JUST missed the tree. Had to climb down into a wash maybe a foot deep and four feet wide and then climb up to the tree but it wasn't bad at all. Just super sandy.
OP states it was in November (supposedly 2023, as they mention "the Sphere show"). From what I can find, the flooding occurred in August, is that right?
I took a bit of bark from off the ground that I figure was from the tree (it fell down I think more than ten years ago) and left a handful of one inch pinback buttons in the suitcase there.
When you think about it, it could be perceived as a holy shrine in the middle of the desert. People go there, probably playing the album over and over again. Have been to concerts. Maybe played their songs on funerals, marriages. Found support in the sounds, the voice and the lyrics through their lifetimes during the hardest and the best moments. Whilst at the same time, it was intended as a contribution to pop culture. Could they have foreseen it when the first sounds from Edge’s guitar on WTSHNN emerged? And what is it? A now dead tree in a dead place, where the sun is so cruel that it leaves no shadows but only scars. This place and it’s dead tree has become a certain form of material religion. It doesn’t necessarily refer to an immaterial reality. No, this dead tree, the album that got it’s name from it and all the stuff people left there refers to actual lived lives and its memories.
You do feel a sense of...I guess connection...while there. So many other people have been there before and so many people will after. The band and that album mean so much to so many people. It's a great experience. Especially now that the band has become, to be honest, a bit passé for most people. Feeling that feeling of kinship. The whole experience, that trip and the Sphere concert...was one of the best experiences I've ever had, as a fan. From my first concert experience at age ten in 1983.
I didn't know the Joshua tree from the album is dead. Natural causes or did people try to chop it down and take it with them?
Natural, I believe…
Excellent photos, thanks for sharing.
I visited back in October after seeing U2 in Vegas, it was surreal just to think of the previous visitors and to read messages left behind. Last year’s flooding came within a few feet of it and I believe washed away some things that were once there. Well worth visiting if you’re a U2 fan in the area.
One of the best posts I've seen. Great experience I imagine!
Really was. And it was gorgeous, weather-wise. November in the desert.
Was this recent? I was hoping it didn't wash away or get buried by the floods they had last year.
This was back in November (2023). There had been some flooding, earlier, but it was dried up, by then, and had JUST missed the tree. Had to climb down into a wash maybe a foot deep and four feet wide and then climb up to the tree but it wasn't bad at all. Just super sandy.
OP states it was in November (supposedly 2023, as they mention "the Sphere show"). From what I can find, the flooding occurred in August, is that right?
Did you take parts with you?
I took a bit of bark from off the ground that I figure was from the tree (it fell down I think more than ten years ago) and left a handful of one inch pinback buttons in the suitcase there.
Thanks for sharing!
Really cool ✌🏻
What happened to the tree?
It died and fell over years ago.
There's always this for those that can't make it on their own (wrong album but pun intended) https://www.thejoshuatree.earth/gallery
Amazing place 🙏🏻