I Believe in Larry Mullen (Joshua Tree Tour, “Elevation”)

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2017-10-24)

IMAGE: Larry Mullen Makes a Heart, Dublin, Ireland

During the Joshua Tree 2017 tour, one moment that was featured almost every night was the camera coming up behind Larry Mullen’s drum kit during “Elevation”. Larry would fill the screen, and we would see him turn around and make some sort of gesture towards the camera. Often he would wave, give a thumbs up, at times it would be more complex. At times his shirt would have some form of text on the back that we would see on screen as well.

Below you can see a video of this moment in Paris. Larry stops playing, turns to the camera and makes a heart with his hands.

Elevation #U2TheJoshuaTree2017 #U2TJT30Paris pic.twitter.com/V99YU9qGtX

— u2songs .com (@u2songs) July 25, 2017

Here we present the full list, to the best of our knowledge, of Larry’s shirts, his activities on screen throughout the tour.

LEG ONE: North America

During the first leg of the tour, in North America, the band were still figuring out the best things to do with the screen. They hit upon Larry’s moment in the show pretty early on in the tour however, with the focus first shifting to Larry on the third show of the tour in Santa Clara, and the first gesture with his hands at the next show. During that show he gives a thumbs up, and it is the first hand gesture he makes. For the next four shows he just stares at the camera however, followed by two shows in Chicago where he makes kisses at the camera one night and smiles the other.

After Chicago the hand gestures started appearing every night. The thumbs up returned for the performance at Bonnaroo, and for the remainder of the North American leg he often did a thumbs up, one night followed by his pinkie, other nights he would wave, and in Tampa he did a little fist bump to the camera.

It was also on the first leg that we first saw text appear on the back of a white shirt.  For both shows in East Rutherford, NJ, Larry wore a T-Shirt that said “NEW JERSEY” on one line, followed by a line separating the lines of text and then “NEW YORK, NY” below the line.

IMAGE: Larry Mullen “HOME”, Dublin, Ireland

LEG TWO: Europe

For the second leg of the tour, Larry started out just waving to the crowd. But in Rome, he made an Italian sign, putting both hands up with fingers pressed to thumb pointed towards himself. Paris and Dublin got hearts made from the fingers on both hands, and Brussels got an “OK” symbol.

For shirts there was text on the back in a few cities. During the second show in London, Larry wore a T-Shirt saying “LONDON CALLING,” the name of the third album and a song by The Clash. There were other references to the cities the band were in, and in Berlin, he wore a shirt that said “BERLINER” (a reference to JFK’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” we’re sure!) and in Rome he wore a shirt that said “ITALIA” while in Dublin the shirt said “HOME”. In Paris for the second show the shirt read 26.07.17 ♥, a reference to the date of the concert. He did not make a heart with his hands at that particular show.

LEG THREE: United States

For the third leg of the tour, the hand gestures have gotten a little more complex, as Larry starts pointing towards himself, then to the camera and then often making a gesture as well. During this leg in the US only one shirt was seen to have text on the back, and that was for the show in New Orleans where Larry wore a shirt that said “SAINTS”. The Saints are the name of New Orleans football team, but is also a reference to All Saints Day, and the spiritual “When the Saints Go Marching In” which is strongly associated with New Orleans. U2’s own, “The Saints Are Coming,” U2’s cover of a Skids song with Green Day, also became tied to New Orleans when proceeds from that song were given to Music Rising to benefit music programs in New Orleans after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

IMAGE: Larry Mullen Makes a Heart, Mexico City, Mexico

LEG FOUR: Latin America

While the fourth leg isn’t quite finished, we’ll update the last couple of entries after all is complete. Larry continues to point to his chest, and then point to the camera before making most gestures. For Mexico, Bogota and Santiago the gesture has been a heart. Buenos Aires got an “OK” one night and a wave the other. Sao Paulo got a thumbs up the first night, and a fist bump on the second. Only two cities saw text on the back of Larry’s shirt for this leg. In Mexico the text said “SEXICO SEXICO SEXICO” with each occurrence being on its own line.  In Mexico City in 2009, Larry also wore a shirt that read “SEXICO”.

IMAGE: Larry Mullen, “SEXICO”, Mexico City, Mexico

In Sao Paulo Larry has been wearing a shirt that says “CENSURA NUNCA MAIS”  for the first three shows which translates to “Censorship Never Again”. Bono has also been speaking about censorship in Brazil during the shows. For the final night his T-Shirt read “AMOR, ORDEM E PROGRESSO” which roughly translates to “Love, Order and Progress”, “Ordem E Progresso” appears in the flag for Brazil, Larry has added the love.

Our friend Beth managed to capture Larry in a few different poses. We’ve included a couple of her tweets below for further illustration of the article including a fist bump and a thumbs up from Larry:

Larry fistbump during Elevation in Tampa. #U2TheJoshuaTree2017 pic.twitter.com/npUzB4YgkW

— bethandbønø (@bethandbono) June 15, 2017

Larry in triptych. Elevation. #U2TheJoshuaTree2017 pic.twitter.com/kfWMhMK8DH

— bethandbønø (@bethandbono) June 12, 2017

All of our coverage for the 30th Anniversary of The Joshua Tree, and The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 can be found in one location.

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