The Irish in Britain, including those of Irish descent, make up a significant part of the UK population. Here, you will find news, entertainment, events, sports and features from the local Irish Post newspaper.

Originally going to be called The Two Americas this three-disc box set offers a wealth of material on one of the 1980s most definitive albums.

The accompanying concert in Paris and documentary Outside It’s America make this vital for even the most casual U2 fan.

In the accompanying booklet Bono describes Where The Streets Have No Name as “a gigantic idea poorly expressed”.

It’s the innocence and desire in trying to capture, in part, the romantic heart of America that makes this album essential listening.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and With Or Without You remain jukebox classics as relevant and arresting now as the day they were released.

In the era where “greed is good” U2 had a conscience and spirit that is rare in rock music from the 1980s onwards.

Tedious hedonism and rehab cases dominate the current climate for authentic musicians today as they did in the ’60s and ’70s but in 1987 U2, uncharacteristically for stadium rock, offered something unique.

There’s nothing academic about The Joshua Tree; its sheer passion, drive and naivety are the very things that make it work. No subject was too big to take on — from the heroin epidemic in Dublin at the time (Running To Stand Still) or the miners’ strike and a desperate working-class in Thatcher’s Britain (Red Hill Mining Town).

It’s brave for a young band to tackle what U2 managed on Joshua Tree and they would be criticised, hammered and mauled despite massive success.

But as U2 licked their wounds they “dreamed it all up again” with the more grown-up and European Achtung Baby — a completely different reflection that would define another era.

The bonus audio disc features a number of out-takes and B-sides of the time; undoubtedly one of U2’s most creative peaks.

Spanish Eyes should have been on the original LP; its omission is perplexing. The original Sweetest Thing included here would provide yet another classic single over a decade later.

But just when you think U2 had ransacked the vault they hit you between the eyes with one of their most potent moments to date.

Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) is the sound of the band not caring a tinker’s cuss for their critics; majestic and challenging while connecting straight to the soul. Ronnie and Keith from The Stones on Silver And Gold is equally striking.