COUNTDOWN TO CROKE PARK: Gary Lightbody tells us why he loves The Joshua Tree!

"It’s among the Mount Rushmore of albums… it’s fucking perfect! Like Revolver by The Beatles and Stevie Wonder’s Talking Books, you can’t take your ears off it. It’s like a heat-seeking missile; every track is a winner. It inspires me every time I listen to it, which is regularly and always in its entirety. I don’t have to reach back in time to think about it; it’s with me every day.
"I fell in love with The Joshua Tree the moment I heard it, which I have to admit wasn’t in 1987. That was before I’d discovered rock courtesy of AC/DC and Metallica and was still listening to Michael Jackson and Madonna.
"What got me hooked on U2 was seeing the Rattle & Hum film on TV. I hadn’t experienced live music – for most people Belfast didn’t seem the most hospitable place to come at the time – so U2 playing Shea Stadium in America seemed the most tantalising, desirable thing on earth."

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