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Irish officials believe they have five times the free tickets for U2’s US tour, with newly released government documents showing diplomats are in an “awkward position”.
The Dublin rock band’s management approached the Foreign Office ahead of their 1987 Joshua Tree tour and offered to put “key figures” on the guest list for a series of shows.
In a letter from Dublin to Ireland’s ambassador in Washington, it was explained that the band wished to invite representatives from “parastatal bodies etc.” diplomats would also like to be able to invite “colleague ambassadors, government and other eminent persons or their children”.
A list was developed based on the idea of a maximum of 60 guests per concert.
This belief was documented in the transcript of a February 1987 meeting with U2 manager Paul McGuinness, where “possible mutual co-operation to safeguard Ireland’s image abroad” was discussed.
“U2 would be happy to provide a certain number (perhaps 50-60) of backstage seats for ambassadors or consuls on tour in a particular city,” a department official wrote.
In March, this information was relayed to Irish representatives in cities including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC.
However, a few weeks later they were informed that the band wanted to limit ticket allocation to 10 per night.
The consul general in Boston said this “put us in an awkward position” because we had already contacted potential guests and determined their preferred dates.
The reply from Foreign Office headquarters was this: “You will understand that there is little the band can do about the U-turn in this matter. If the situation is embarrassing, why not ask your contact person if you can put a few more shows on your list for more than ten shows a night?”
The document also states that U2 was considering staging a free concert for 400,000 people at the Eiffel Tower to mark its centenary after then-Paris mayor Jacques Chirac expressed interest.
The band did not perform at the Tower, Johnny Halliday and Stevie Wonder were the day’s main performers.
This article is based on a document from the National Archives of Ireland labeled 2025/124/461