On the trail of U2 in the awesome Californian desert
THIRTy years ago this summer, Bono and his U2 band mates drove out into california’s mojave Desert to find a suitable Joshua tree for the cover of the album that catapulted them to world stardom.
The desert, 120 miles east of los angeles and an hour’s drive from Palm Springs, is full of Joshua trees, said to have been named by mormon settlers who crossed the mojave in the mid19th century.
What better excuse for a californian road trip than to hire an open-top Ford mustang?
my partner morven and I flew to los angeles and pointed the mustang’s hood towards Palm Springs. after a 100-mile journey, we reached the Rancho mirage Hilton Garden Hotel in Palm Springs.
on our first morning, we drove into the desert via the bleak yucca Valley towards Twentynine Palms, a rundown, one- street town. Receding towards the sandy horizon, was the largest U.S. marine base in the world. otherwise, the vista was scrubland and mangy dogs.
outside Twentynine Palms, we spotted a creaking sign f or the Harmony motel, where U2 stayed while making the Joshua Tree album. If this is where Bono and the edge slumbered, they must have been hard up.
I did a U-turn and headed towards the vast Joshua Tree national Park. adjacent to the park’s West Gate, a
gaggle of Bono groupies were gathered around a fallen Joshua tree. But this was not the Holy Grail. A park warden advised that the actual tree was nowhere nearby. ‘ Death Valley. That’s where you’ll find it.’
Off we went. At sleepy Furnace Creek in the middle of Death Valley, reputedly the hottest place on earth, we were directed to the site of the Joshua tree. But this wasn’t Mecca either. In desperation, I emailed my friend Paul McGuinness, former manager of U2.
‘Paul,’ I pleaded. ‘No one seems to know the location of the original Joshua tree. Where is it?’
He replied: ‘I’m afraid you won’t have much luck locating it. The original tree was cut down by a souvenir hunter who brought it to a gig.’
I began warbling U2’s anthem: ‘I Stil l Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.’
But we had travelled thousands of miles through sensational landscapes and met Americans exuding hospitality and eccentricity in equal measure. No regrets.
TRAVEL FACTS
HILTON Garden Hotels, hilton gardeninn3.hilton.com. Virgin Atlantic, virgin-atlantic.com, flies daily to Los Angeles and San Francisco. See visitcalifornia.com