Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
They decided to push back Songs of Experience in August 2016. Somewhere around the middle of the month. Up until that time they were working with an October 31, 2016 release date, had booked promo appearances, and even had given Kygo the go ahead to start playing the remix. They left the decision to the last minute possible, as the album would have to be turned in at the start of September to have physical copies ready in stores for October 31. An arena tour was planned and dates had been uploaded to Live Nation databases.
Earlier in August I had communication with several people that suggested the album was coming, and that a tour was happening. And there was a nice little list of promo gigs that I was aware of including Bono appearing with Kygo in LA, the iHeart and Salesforce shows, an appearance on Jools Holland, and a surprise show planned to mark the 45th anniversary of Project Arts / U2s 40th birthday in Dublin. Some (but not all) of these performances were cancelled.
The Joshua Tree idea came together in November of that year from what I know and was teased in December. Steve Lillywhite was brought in at the end of November to work on the new mix of RHMt.
Media was notified the album was not coming in 2016 on August 18, 2016. They were asked to pull prepared stories about the album release at that time.