PASADENA — The biggest concert crowd in Rose Bowl history is expected Sunday night when U2 takes the stage, performing in the round for upward of 95,000 people and untold millions via YouTube.
The Dublin quartet will be performing on a giant, rotating stage that enables fans to fill the playing field, the band to do away with stacks of amplifiers and speakers, and turns end-zone seats into stage center.
Friday’s show in Las Vegas — former President Bill Clinton and actor Sean Penn were among the celebrities in the crowd of about 40,000 — drew heavily from the band’s latest album, “No Line on the Horizon,” but included older hits such as “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Included in the three-song finale was “With or Without You.”
The concert will be streamed live on YouTube — the first full-length concert to be streamed by the Google-owned video site — and is expected to reach millions beyond the Rose Bowl. The concert will also be archived online and available for free viewing.
The Black-Eyed Peas will open the 8:30 p.m. show, which sold-out in hours. The crowd is expected to be U2’s biggest. The band’s attendance record — 84,500 — was set at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., last month.
Parking will be challenging, since the Rose Bowl has only about 20,000 spaces next to the stadium. But Pasadena is used to big crowds, and shuttles will be running from parking lots around Old Town, Pasadena City College and Metro Gold Line stations.
Those who hop a train to the show should get off at the Memorial Park Station. More information is available at www.metro.net or by calling (800) COMMUTE.
Pasadena police Chief Bernard Melekian urged concertgoers to arrive early, bring a picnic lunch or participate in “Picnic in the Park” festivities, which are free.