U2 360° To End Year Down Under

In the middle of the night, as the U2 slept in their beds dreaming of the bands arrrival to another city. A update was placed for all to dream about. Yes we have an offical tour annoucement.

Tour Dates announced for Australia and New Zealand: U2360° will visit Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and include  U2’s first Perth date since Popmart in 1998. 

‘U2 has always been at their best when surrounded by their audience, and this extraordinary production makes that happen in stadiums,’ says U2’s manager Paul McGuinness. ‘It was important to the band that we were able to bring the whole 360°  production to Australia and New Zealand so fans could experience the latest of U2’s legendary productions.’

The U2360° Tour kicked off again in Turin, Italy this month and will visit 17 cities, including Moscow and Istanbul, before finishing at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on 8th October. By the time it reaches New Zealand and Australia, U2360° will have been seen by over 4 million fans.

With a cylindrical video system of interlocking LED panels, and a steel structure rising 150 feet from the floor over a massive stage with rotating bridges, the band has truly created an intimate  experience for concert goers. Long-time U2 Show Director Willie Williams has worked again with architect Mark Fisher (ZooTV, PopMart, Elevation and Vertigo), to create an innovative 360 design, which affords an unobstructed view for the audience.

‘To have an in-the-round transportable stadium production is something that the touring industry has been trying to figure out for some time. The extra capacity U2 360° gives us means that there are a large number, several thousand in fact, of low priced tickets at every show’, said U2 tour producer/promoter Arthur Fogel, CEO of Live Nation Global Touring.

 In keeping with the concept that this tour is more about a unique staging configuration with excellent sight-lines tickets in all 5 cities will be available starting at $39.90 with general admission floor tickets available at $99.90. Additional reserved seat tickets also available starting at $99.90.

 Tickets for the U2 performances in Australia and New Zealand will go on sale Friday, September 3rd at all usual outlets. U2.com subscribers will be able to buy tickets ahead of the public on-sale. 

Australia & New Zealand Tour Dates 2009

November 25 Auckland, NZ    Mt. Smart Stadium 
December 01 Melbourne, AU  Etihad Stadium 
December 08 Brisbane, AU Suncorp Stadium
December 13 Sydney, AU ANZ Stadium
December 18 Perth, AU  Subiaco Oval 

U2 Goes Downunder !

Ticketmaster Australia 2010

RISH supergroup U2 are returning to Australia for a national tour. The band have announced their tour dates, including a stadium show in Sydney on December 13. The concert, to be held at ANZ Stadium, will mark the return of the band to Sydney after four years.

The band will begin their 360° Tour in New Zealand on November25, before travelling to Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth.

Tickets go on sale on September 3 - with promoters Michael Coppel and Live Nation Touring expecting enormous demand.

Although only one show has been announced for Sydney, it is highly likely tour dates will be extended.

Rumours about U2’s return to Australia have been swirling for months. The tour announcement is an early Christmas present for many of the band’s loyal Australian fans, who feared frontman Bono’s back injury earlier in the year might have affected plans for a trip Down Under.

The lead singer had emergency spinal surgery in May, which forced the band to postpone the US leg of their world tour, plus major performances including headlining the Glastonbury Festival in England.

U2 returned to touring this month, with concerts in Europe.

Bono said he was ”fighting fit” and thanked fans, and his bandmates, for their patience.

The U2 show, which features an innovative in-the-round experience for fans, also has a range of cheap tickets for Australian concert-goers.

The ”sight-lines” seats start from $39.90 a ticket, with general standing and stadium seats priced at $99.90.

U2’s manager Paul McGuinness said the band were keen for Australian fans to see the production.

”It was important to the band that we were able to bring the whole 360° production to Australia and New Zealand so fans could experience the latest of U2’s legendary productions,” he said.

More than 4 million fans will have seen U2’s 360° Tour worldwide by the time they arrive in Australia.

A source close to the tour has revealed U2 are also considering leaving their enormous set - a three-pronged alien-like tower - in Australia as a tourist attraction, at the end of the tour.

”They thought it was a great idea,” said the source. ”Rather than shipping it all back on a plane, it could become a local attraction.”

Bono Feared Most

U2 singer Bono revealed to Ryan Tubridy that his recent back injury could have left him crippled for life.

The 50-year-old claimed it was only the intensive treatment he received from German doctors that allowed him to retain use of his left leg.

And he also revealed that he was still trying to cope with his injury.

“I had a pretty close call. What was dangerous about it was a piece of disc that had ripped through ligaments had gone down into the spinal canal and I could have lost the use of my left leg,” said the singer.

However, the Dubliner said that his role at the helm of one of the world’s biggest rock bands helped see through weeks and weeks of painful rehab. “Being the frontman in U2 is a great job and a reason for me to stick to what has been a really very hard programme of rehab,” he said. “It consists usually of German doctors beating me up and pushing me into all kinds of positions and exercises. I’m very fit now.

Surgery

“I think it’s something like 11 weeks since surgery so they’re very pleased. It’s really turned my life upside down.”

The singer was speaking to Tubridy from his Finnish hotel room ahead of the band’s latest gig in Helsinki. Bono joked he had been inspired to ring into the show after seeing Gerry Ryan in a dream.

“Gerry appeared to me last night in a dream and said: ‘That fellow Ryan Tubridy used to work making me coffee years ago and I always knew he had his eyes on my gig.’”

He advised Tubridy that the key to following in Gerry’s footsteps was to be himself.

“I suppose he could be very serious but never earnest, which is something I find quite hard,” Bono said of Gerry.

“I always tuned into him for that and you have that, too. You’ll have a great time on this show. They’re big shoes to fill.

“He had a big foot and a big mouth to put it in. You can’t do anything wrong with this spot if you are yourself. That was really the great art of Gerry Ryan, being himself.”

Irish Independent



U2 Helsinki Review

Before we jump into the review of the show lets talk mobile signal jamming, it was interesting yesterday that most of the fans that tweet in the show or send video expressed issues with their signal. We can only report that this could only be related to this statdium.

U2 walked on stage relaxed despite the delay. The band was at home and seemed to crowd. They grabbed the audience from the start of the show and maintained them. Starting off with Beautiful Day seems to work well.  

Critics seem to have their day too. Stating that the boys have seemed to miss the 90’s and beyond.  Nothing fresh, nothing new yet the concert seemed to prove that Mysterious Ways has a place on this new setlist.

Enthusiasm did not slow down as they played “Where the Streets Have No Name” A couple of songs deleted from the show making room for Until the End of the World.

Bono seemed into the crowd, taking time to reference some points of interest. The show did start with a technical issue, the screen failed to go up causing a bit of delay in the start.

The crowd danced and sang along; remember the comment from the hotelier that U2’s audience is a bit old. Well the forty something crowd was clearing driving the show.

Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi was in the house and Kiviniemi received special treatment because he met with Bono before the gig and the singer mention the Prime Minister during a concert a few times.

Bottom line translators did not really do a good job of understanding the importance of U2’s arrival. Can U2 fill every show and create a buzz that over takes Rock? Well with 4 new projects on the way. U2 and I can only hope.

Australian Promotional Posters

During yesterday show we updated that we have spotted the Australian promotional posters with dates and ticket sales details. Here is what we do know. The posters are real, however they are production posters so we could claim them as official. So based on what we have seen we are just updating you of the possibility of the their arrival back to OZ, which will be the first time since PopMart - 

  • 1 December 2010: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
  • 8 December 2010: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland
  • 13 December 2010: ANZ Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales
  • 18 December 2010: Subiaco Oval, Perth, Western Australia


These shows will, according to the posters, go on sale at 9am on Friday, 3 September 2010 via the usual outlets - Ticketmaster or Ticketek, depending on the venue’s ticket agency arrangements.

Helsinki Local Time -

FYI guess who is attending Saturday’s show ?

Andrea Corr looks set to mark her first wedding anniversary to well-to-do hubby Brett Desmond in style after the pair were invited to the Russian leg of U2’s 360 tour in Moscow, as VIP guests of Bono.

The loved-up newlyweds are on holiday abroad and will mark the milestone on Saturday, but are then hoping to jet to the Russian capital in time for a belated celebration at the gig next week.

Brett and Andrea are firm friends of the U2 frontman and are said to have offered him great support during his recent health scare, which saw him take a two-month break from the limelight after he was forced to undergo emergency surgery for a back injury. The Vertigo singer and wife Ali Hewson were among those at Brett and Andrea’s wedding at Doonbeg Golf Resort in Co Clare last summer.

The two couples share the same anniversary — and Bono and Ali will celebrate their 28th year together at U2’s concert in Helsinki, Finland, on Saturday.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the singer, who last weekend showed Sean Penn a night to remember as the Oscar-winning actor celebrated his 50th birthday in Dublin.

Penn is in Ireland filming new movie This Must Be The Place alongside Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson.

 

Baby Baby Light My Way

Sometimes I feel like I don’t know
Sometimes I feel like checking out…’

Second show in Horsens tonight, another capacity crowd and this European leg is hitting its stride. A great atmosphere with the Danish audience  and signs that the band are thinking about some more surprises in the set list.

‘When I was all messed up and I heard opera in my head,
Your love was a light bulb hanging over my bed…’

Helena Christensen’s presence got Bono musing about the band: ‘Speaking of tall, beautiful, elegant, well dressed sex symbols, on my left… the Helena Christensen of our band… Adam Clayton…’
And on my right, the Heidi Klum of our catwalk, The Edge.
And behind me, on the drums, our very own model/actor,  Brigitte Neilsen - Larry Mullen Jnr…
‘I don’t know what that makes me. Lucky I suppose?’

‘Baby, baby, baby, light my way.
Alright now, baby, baby, baby, light my way…’


Fans wondering could we expect to see Ultraviolet return to the setlist tonight ? 

Record Attendance Expected

Helsinki Olympics Stadium 2010

A record audience turnout is expected at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium for concerts given by the U2 rock band as part of its “360” world tour. An estimated crowd of 104,000 fans are expected for the two concerts.

The concerts mark the reopening of Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium to the public after recent renovations. An audience of 52,000 people is expected on both nights, representing an all time record of attendance at the venue.

Previous audience records date from concerts given by the Rolling Stones and Tina Turner, each attended by 50,000 fans. Dual concerts given by Bruce Springsteen in 2003 attracted a precise total of 89,856 people.

Back in 1952, over 70,000 attended the Helsinki Olympics at the stadium.

The concerts-in-the-round feature the world’s biggest stage set for a pop tour. Some fans have been camping outside the venue since Wednesday, hoping to catch a glimpse of “the claw”, a steel construction at the heart of the band’s stage set.

About 600 extra tickets to the shows went on sale on Friday morning.

This is the band’s third visit to Finland since 1983, when they played at Turku’s Ruisrock festival.

Concert Postponed

The show in Seville will be postponed by one day to Thursday, 30th of Setember 2010. The original show date was 29th however due to a general strike planned for the 29th it makes it impossible to hold a show.

U2.com has annouced the changes and stated that all tickets for the original date will be honoured at the new date. Fans that can not attend the new date must return their tickets to thier point of purchase no later than September 10th 2010.

The complete tour guide can be found here

He's Not Spiderman, Paul Maybe SuperMan

In the new issue of GQ, we hear from the man who stands behind it. Manager Paul McGuinness has written a fascinating article: How To Save The Music Industry.

There is no doubt this is a business in peril. Every economic quarter brings more bad news from the commercial frontline. Put bluntly, falling CD sales are not being matched by rising legal digital downloads, and all the mooted new revenue streams of sponsorship, sync deals and direct sales are not taking up the slack. Even the live scene, supposedly the last refuge for working musicians, is suffering, with major stars failing to sell out dates.

The battleground of the music industry (and, indeed, every creative industry) is copyright, and McGuinness has placed himself at the forefront of this campaign for several years.

McGuinness’s GQ essay is an interesting and well-informed attempt to define the problem and suggest possible solutions. McGuinness, at his most optimistic, envisages “a world of millions of micro-payments, paid daily and triggered by technology that will track every use of a song, identify the rights owner and arrange instant electronic payment. Music subscription will be the basic access route to enjoying tracks and albums, but by no means the only one. Households will pay for a subscription service like Spotify, or they will pay for a service bundled into their broadband bill, to an ISP such as Sky and Virgin Media. But many customers will also take out more expensive added-value packages, with better deals including faster access to new releases. There will also be a healthy market in downloads to own and premium albums.  iTunes will be fighting its corner in the market, probably with its own subscription service. And a significant minority will still buy CDs, coveting the packaging, the cover designs and the sense of ownership:

The Edge/ Paul McGuinness/Bono - U2

Quote from Paul:

“It is two years on from my Cannes speech. Some things are better in the music world, but unfortunately the main problem is still just as bad as it ever was. Artists cannot get record deals. Revenues are plummeting. Efforts to provide legal and viable ways of making money from music are being stymied by piracy. The latest figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) shown that 95 per cent of all music downloaded is illegally obtained and unpaid for. Indigenous music industries from Spain to Brazil are collapsing. An independent study endorsed by trade unions says Europe’s creative industries could lose more than a million jobs in the next five years. Maybe the message is finally getting through that this isn’t just about fewer limos for rich rock stars.

Of course this isn’t crippling bands like U2 and it would be dishonest to claim it was. I’ve always believed artists and musicians need to take their business as seriously as their music. U2 understood this. They have carefully pursued careers as performers and songwriters, signed good deals and kept control over their life’s work. Today, control over their work is exactly what young and developing performers are losing. It is not their fault. It is because of piracy and the way the internet has totally devalued their work.

So how did we get here? How is it in 2010, in a world of iTunes and Spotify, of a healthy live music scene and hundreds of different legal sites, that making money fairly from recorded music remains so elusive?”


U2's Club Sound

Bono / U2 360 Tour 2010 In the September issue of the Rolling Stone which hits newstands Friday in North America Bono tells all about a new album with a club sound.

As already reported the band has plans to release a rock album, and SOngs of Ascent a set of songs from the recording session of their 2009 album “No Line On the Horizon” also Bono and The Edge have been busy with Spider- Man the musical.

Bono says he thinks he “could have made a limp work.”

He adds: “There are a lot bigger problems out there than the ones I was facing. … But I came out of it perfect. And I feel incredibly grateful.”

 

U2 Runner from Horesens

U2 360 Tour Plane 2010 Bono and the band has flown on. U2 came, saw and conquered in Denmark. But shortly after the Irish band left the stage in Horsens Monday evening, was Bono and the band out of the country.

The last  encore ‘Moment of Surrender’ had barely died away before U2 had left not only but also Horsens Denmark.  ( Industry term “Runner” - This happens in small venues that bands perform and everything is packed up and ready as the band leaves the stage their are moved quickly to a running car and off they go.)

Just one hour and 20 minutes after U2 went on stage at Casa Arena Horsens, the band had taken their seats in their aircraft when they stood and waited for them at Billund Airport.


 
- They took off at 00:50, said director of Billund Airport. Kjeld Jorgensen Zacho to Ekstra Bladet.

The plane - an MD-83 machine - has been at the airport since the band and crew landed Sunday afternoon at 16:25.

U2 has tried to keep their presence in the Jutland secret. On their flight from the French VIP charter airline Blue Line.

The aircraft is initially accommodate 167 passengers, but U2’s VIP edition is only 60 Business Class seats for extra legroom good for Bono, The Edge and the other boys. 

Sunday afternoon. 16:25 landed an MD-83 (DC-9-83) aircraft from the French VIP charter airline Blue Line from Billund Airport. The plane with registration number F-GMLK have a special livery on the tail.

On board the aircraft cabin looks a little different than the corresponding MD83 aircraft, which include SAS had at one time in the Navy. In an all-economy version can accommodate 167 passengers. But U2’s VIP edition is only 60 Business Class seats and good legroom, which has a seat pitch of 58 inches across.

The plane dates back from July 1988 and has 22 years in the logbook. It was originally delivered to Spanair, but in 1997 leased to Tunisian Nouvelair. From 2005 the aircraft was taking ownership of the Blue Line.

However, there is little doubt as to whether the Irish rock band was actually on board the French VIP aircraft.

About 20 minutes after the MD-83’erens arrival landed a Cessna Citation 560 Jet from the British NextJet specializing in rentals of smaller jets for VIP purposes. So maybe the band came in Citation-jet, while the crew enjoyed Business Class seats.

Between the two concerts the band stayed at the Hotel KongebroGaarden in Middlesbrough - a five-star hotel located in a forest by a small marina a few meters from water’s edge at Little overlooking both the new and old Lillebælstbro.

U2 play their next concert on Friday in Finland.

U2's Two Day Party in Horsens

 

U2 Rocked Horsens for Two Days, the largest stage in the world arrived nearly two weeks ago as fans watched in amazement, dreaming of the show they would soon see. Tickets sold out, camping gear spotted around the stadium, fans positioning themselves around the non ticket holder areas to catch the massive screen.

The middle aged Irishman sounded like they should have been shoulder to shoulder in a sweaty summer club, maybe CBGB’s (reference to our friend Hilly) however tonight Horsens turn to experience U2 in a 360 view was.  

The boys climbed the stage in a remarkably leisurely pace here as dusk turned into his most dark blue hue. But from the first chord in new instrumentals Return of the Stingray Guitar and its jumpy synth theme was solid beats and loud, and announced that tonight’s first peak could come as soon it should be. And it did: It’s a Beautiful Day song Bono to the riveting beat, and the answer came promptly in the form of ecstatic reunion joy that stretched all the way down to audience numbering 35,000 in the rear end of the arena.

The Edges familiar riff on guitar for New Year’s Day reminded us that U2 has three decades old, while Bono edge on the outer circle was all skepticism to shame that the very question back injury is a hindrance. He pulled hard on the body at a pace that drove the song even faster than the original, and grooved, dirty Get On Your Boots beats gave a further upward thanks to a metallic, treble  that perhaps vibrated inappropriate under-grandstand roofs, but turn easily reached all corners of the arena.

It was frankly hard, sharp rock, and although the pace was choked a bit down in the beautiful pop Magnificent with Bono high clear song, it was not until tonight’s sixth number, Mysterious Ways, that there was something that reminded just a little on air and cracks in the sound barrier (while sensual female bodies writhing in front frontman’s face on the big screen to the sexy groove). Just to party and rock the machine threw yet another dunk gasoline on the fire with Elevation: Bono is out on the edge with big gestures - and the audience responded!

At the time of the concert was so looked deeply into U2’s history books, but actually, the four be commended for serving a very contemporary program. Half of the concert a total of 23 songs were from the last decade, and perhaps it is also why an estimated 25 percent of the audience this evening was not even born when the group came up - and many of them do not know when U2 had its absolute artistic zenith in the final 80 / start-’90s.

U2 will continue to blaze the world with this tour and fans await the release of something new. Something different as U2 continues to define rock as music that you feel in your soul and you can’t feel it if your sitting on your ass !

 

U2 Horsens Fans Agree

The critics liked what they saw and heard when the Irish world stars from U2 Sunday walked on stage and delivered over 130-minute concert in Horsens.

They have never been better !  Six Stars ! “Small miracle of rock historys biggest stage.”

The setlist was designed to get people off their “ASS” and enjoy the summer evening. Moments of Surrender, and the fans did. U2 triumph over questions of could they come back from Bono’s time out? In deed they can.

U2 was in focus and the stage was really just part of the music as it stood tall against the small town of Horsens.

U2 can indeed play, and you can sense that the four childhood friends from Dublin are still enjoying each others company after 34 years together, and the photos prove just that.
Monday gives U2’s second concert in Horsens.

U2 on Holiday in Horsens

U2 Horsens 360 Tour 2010U2 have Monday half day off, which takes place in secret, before the band’s second concert in Horsens. After a concert Sunday with mostly positive response from critics, the rock group U2 Monday half day off in Horsens. But what the day will be used at will horsensianske concert organizer not disclose.

- They have a secret program which they would not publish because they just have free, “says concert organizer Frank Panduro, who also is behind the city’s former great concerts.

The local tourist chief has however a number of recommendations on what U2 frontman Bono to get day to go by before the second concert in Horsens tonight.

- Besides, he obviously has to relax, so he gets ready for tonight, so I think then that he should go down and see downtown and the big party that is for him, “says Lene Kamilla Hansen, who is touring manager in Horsens.

- He may, for example, have a picnic bag with local specialties down the pedestrian street in Horsens. It includes a locally produced sausage, some pasta salad and some cake. It would be a perfect lunch, “says Lene Kamilla Hansen.

Bono can also see U2 worship, concerts on the pedestrian street and a bunch of volunteers in the U2 frontman’s spirit doing good deeds as lifting visitor’s baggage and wipe the sweat of people’s foreheads.

U2 Plays Horsens

U2 play tonight in the CASA Arena Horsens n the fourth concert of  the U2 World Tour 360. The setlist will include 23 songs, and probably again come up with previously unplayed songs such as “North Star” and “Glastonbury”.

The U2 classics such as One, Moment of Surrender or elevation will find their way into the setlist of four from Dublin.

On Monday, 8.16.2010 It is then in Horsens in the CASA-Arena crack then again properly, because the four are from Dublin will give their second concert in front of more than 40,000 fans. In the CASA-fit arena purely for the 34,000 spectators, but then there are the popular indoor places (where soccer is usually played) is expected to clear more than 35,000 enthusiastic fans.

U2’s largest Germany website will be reporting and streaming the show. This should be very interesting expect to get audio and video from their site. Visit them directly at U2TOUR.DE

Ww wish them good cheer, to stream a U2 show is hard due to the millions of fans around the world. So lets enjoy the show.

What time is it in Horsens ? Local Time is

Expect the the boys to take the stage around 8:45 PM

U2 May Say Hola South America !

The rumors contiue to grow. Now La Tercera is reporting that Live Nation may have reached a deal for the boys to play in Chile, and if all goes well it could be more than one show. Dates suggested March 25th and 26th. The second show is based a sell out of the first. Which is more than likely. If Chile gets the second show this will be the first time since the boys toured South America that Chile gets a second show.

The waiting for some fans may be a bit much however we suggest you hang on word has it that tickets may go on sale as early as September.

Now what about South America, should the Chile concert dates come true, this would be part of the bigger South American tour which could include U2’s first time arrival into Peru. Rumors suggest that this South American tour could start late February or early March 2011.