RALEIGH - U2’s much-anticipated appearance on NC State’s campus today will not only mark the end of Carter-Finley Stadium’s 11-year hiatus from holding special events, it will also bring more than 1,500 temporary jobs to workers. 
“Our mission was to employ people who would otherwise not have a job for that week,” he said. “There’s no cost to the athletic department or the university, and no tax dollars are being used to bring this show to Carter-Finley Stadium.”
Beginning the evening of Sunday, Sept. 27, hundreds of workers have been on hand, waiting for football practice to end so they can begin to cover the Wayne Day Family Field turf with a state-of-the-art aluminum decking specifically designed to protect the integrity of the field’s infrastructure – drainage, communications and irrigation systems, and more.
Then, beginning on Monday, workers began to bring in U2’s elaborate, in-the-round stage setup, which –- when assembled -– will soar vertically at heights parallel to Carter-Finley’s upper seating decks – or higher. Brincefield got a first-hand look at the construction on a recent trip to Massachusetts, where U2 sold out Boston’s Gillette Stadium.
“It takes about three days for hundreds of laborers and steel workers to erect this lighting and sound structure that will go over the stage – six cranes and 25 forklifts running all the time,” he said. “It’s pretty impressive.”
While construction is taking place, Brincefield will be on hand, working with Live Nation staff on pre-, concurrent-, and post-concert logistics. For example, the Carolina Hurricanes hockey club opens regular season play at the adjacent RBC Center on Friday, Oct. 2 – “production day” for the U2 crew.
“It’s really important for us to get out in front of everything and talk about logistics because nobody’s stadium – or situation – is the same,” he said. “ Their production areas, offices, their catering, lay-down yard, where they’ll park 128 tractor-trailers… all those things have to be laid out on a map before they even arrive.”
As the show draws closer, Brincefield and his staff will be putting in longer hours, supervising the installation of phone and data-access lines, merchandise locations and corporate sponsorships. All the while, the 12-person staff will ensure that the rest of the university’s facilities continue to run like clockwork.
“Hosting this concert is a really big deal for us, and it’s a huge changeover from football.,” Brincefield said “That being said, we’re certainly not going to cancel next week’s soccer match, or fall baseball because of this show.
“We’re going to have all of those things and make them work,” he said. “We just have to be wise with our time. When the lights go out at Carter-Finley stadium each night, that’s when we’ll leave.”
NC State also said that the giant concert will highlight NC State and U2 lead singer Bono’s shared passion for environmental issues.
‘“U2 always has been tenacious and focused on and off stage,” Woodward said. “They make a difference – musically, socially, economically – and NC State is proud to be a part of that.”
As they have been at the Wolfpack’s first three football games this season, WeRecycle bins will be distributed throughout Carter-Finley Stadium during the U2 concert. The program, which began in 2003, is regarded as one of the nation’s premier stadium recycling efforts.
Fans turned in three tons of recyclables during NC State’s win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday and, with an increased stadium capacity to almost 64,000 for the U2 concert, it’s possible NC State fans could set a single-day recycling record at the stadium later today.
“We hope to never have an event at Carter-Finley Stadium without recycling,” Brincefield said. “This program continues to grow – we have had some great corporate sponsors and have been able to expand from inside the stadium to outside, then into Vaughn Towers and the suites as well.”
Following the performance, Live Nation Global – the concert promoter – will replace the Carter-Finley turf at their own expense, returning the field to ideal playing conditions in advance of NC State’s home matchup with Duke on Oct. 10. Concerns about potential issues with the turf were alleviated through careful planning and consultation with Live Nation executives, as well as NC State agronomics experts and the football coaches and staff.
But admittedly, replacing the field’s playing surface mid-season is a less-than-ideal scenario, Brincefield said. 
Prior to U2, the last performers scheduled to play Carter-Finley Stadium were George Strait and Jimmy Buffet in 1998. However, recently completed stadium renovations put Carter-Finley on par with some of the best and biggest outdoor facilities in the country, and opened a window of opportunity for promoters to inquire about the stadium’s availability for performances.
For example, U2 has booked shows at grandiose facilities like Pasadena, California’s Rose Bowl and the Dallas Cowboys’ brand-new stadium in Texas, and selected Carter-Finley over other regional possibilities such as Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium – home to the Carolina Panthers – and Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium.
“One of our big talking points in the spring was that not only have our people’s donations and the stadium renovations paid off for our football program, but it’s paid off on a world level that a company like Live Nation Global would contact us and we would have the ability to turn them down – and they would continue to contact us,” Brincefield said.
“That says a lot – not necessarily for me and my staff, but for the alumni, faculty, staff and students of this university, our Wolfpack Club members and the construction teams that built that we have we have – a place that we can be proud of and one that is in demand.”
“We’ve barely cracked open the door to being a host for special events – our mission is for our student-athletes,” he said. “No matter who calls or who shows up, no matter what kind of offer they bring, it starts and ends with our student athletes and we’ll work from there.
“If it’s a situation where we can make something work, then we’ll look further into it,” he said. “We’re not going to be this cracker-jack bunch that opens the doors to everyone just to make a little bit of money – that’s not our mission, and it never will be.”
In fact, in their line of work, the single thing that makes Brincefield and his staff the happiest is if they go completely unnoticed.
“We’ll probably all have shed 10 to 15 pounds and have worked so hard that we won’t know which way is home, but if we leave Carter-Finley Stadium on October 10 and nobody has noticed anything but the game play – nobody says anything about the field – we’ve done our jobs,” he said. “That’s how and why we exist.
“Besides, I don’t know if I can take the stress of tearing out turf and putting in turf right in the middle of the season again,” he said with a laugh. “There’s already a lot to do and we haven’t even started the process yet.”
TX Party Pass ? WTF
Its been a day of noise around the internet. Party Pases ? What the heck is a party pass? Sounds too much like well we can’t say it but if you saw the movie ALMOST FAMOUS. Think about the line the “tour manager said” Ok back to the story here is the deal from what we understand. Want to fill out the stadium ? Old school way was called papering, thats when you throw out a couple of thousand tickets for free. Yup for free this fills in the dead area’s and makes the band feel good. Turn the page forward 2009 Party Passes you pay $ 30.00 for the right to stand up, the entire time, crowded, cowboy smelly boots and pushing around for the best possible postion.
Live Nation Press Release -
Dallas / Fort Worth (Arlington), TX – October 1, 2009 – Due to overwhelming demand for U2 tickets, Live Nation announced today they are releasing Party Pass tickets to the show at Cowboys Stadium on October 12th. These general admission tickets offer an excellent view and will be priced at $30 each.
The 360° Tour features a round stage positioned on the stadium floor with the band surrounded by their audience, the natural progression of their previous tours. By elevating the sound and lighting equipment, the walls that traditionally obscure performers from their audience are removed. This has also allowed greater capacity and a lower general ticket price.
The stage is designed by long-time collaborator Willie Williams and architect Mark Fisher who have worked together with U2 since ZooTv. Advances in technology and digital communication have allowed Williams to create an overhead expandable cylindrical screen made up of 500,000 pixels.
“The band has been moving further into the crowd with every tour. Tonight they’ve arrived. Willie and Mark have spent five years perfecting this beautiful and extraordinary frame, once the crowd came in tonight, we got lift-off!” said U2 manager Paul McGuinness, of the band’s tour kickoff show at Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium.
“U2 has always put on the most exciting live show. They’ve really raised the bar with this production they want the best for their fans and based on the reaction they have absolutely delivered” said Arthur Fogel, CEO Global Touring/Chairman - Global Music Live Nation.
The U2 360 Tour started in Chicago September 12th and will play 20 shows in North America. In 2009, in just 44 shows the tour will perform for over 3 million fans.
$30 PARTY PASS TICKETS ON SALE NOW
U2 Rocks 55K Fans at Scott Stadium
If you have been following along you know that the tour currently supporting the band’s 12th studio album “No Line on the Horizon,” the boys played on a The stage, designed to offer the crowd a view from any angle, looked a bit like one of those pincers that grabs stuffed animals inside vending machines at Big Lots. U2’s version, of course, was much, much bigger.
“We’re making a space jump,” Bono told the crowd, with a nod to the band’s vaguely alien-looking stage. “We built this thing and been to all kinds of interesting places. We built it to be closer to you.”
Somewhat surprisingly, Bono had a point. Despite the stage’s size, its innovative 54-ton cylindrical video screen gave a clear and intimate view of Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.
At a few points in the show, Bono referenced Charlottesville’s ties to a certain founding father.
“We hold these truths to be self evident,” he sang during “Beautiful Day.” “A pledge of honor to America, to freedom, to the whole world.”
He also asked the crowd: “Where is Mr. Jefferson? Is he in the house?”
The show marks the third concert at Scott Stadium. In 2001, the Dave Matthews Band played, followed by the Rolling Stones in 2005.
Twitter Fans at the concert posted comments such as “It’s remarkable;” Four people can draw 60,000 people and fill up a football stadium.”
After two encores, two hours, eleven minutes, and seventeen seconds, and “close to a full house,” according to Wilson, the spectacle was over. Immediately after the lights lifted and fans began pouring out, crew members started tearing down the stage.
During the middle of the show, Bono paused to introduce the band he has played with for years– but for Charlottesville, he tailored the intros to fit the college-town atmosphere: the Edge was the nerd, Larry Mullen, Jr was the athlete and team captain, Adam was the lady’s man, all while Bono still had “a lot to learn.” But if the greatest pop-rock tour of all time still has to find time to study, Charlottesville’s music aficionados might have quite a bit of cramming to do.
If U2 is just past their prime, then Muse can still look forward to theirs. The 360 Tour, however, hits them at very rich times in their careers. The song cataloges are long and getting longer, performance traits have been developed and worn in and the stage does a lot of the talking. “I feel like I have more to learn,” Bono said. “And I’m going to learn it with these three men.”
55,000 People Scott Stadium
An estimated 55,000 people will attend the U2 concert Thursday night at Scott Stadium. In anticipation of increased traffic, many of the University Transit System bus routes will run on altered service hours.
The Central Grounds Shuttle and the Colonnade Shuttle will stop running at 5:30 p.m.. The Northline, Stadium/Hospital Shuttle, and the Inner and Outer U-Loops will end service at 4:30 p.m. The Green Route will extend its service between the Health System and U-Hall until 12:30 a.m.
The Charlottesville Transit Service Free Trolley Route will follow a similar detour to that used during home football games. The trolley will take Jefferson Park Avenue, Emmet Street and University Avenue to get downtown.
The Central Grounds Garage will close to non-permit holders at noon, and all vehicles must vacate the garage by 3 p.m. All other permit holders should consult the UTS Web site’s Special Events page to note any further changes.
U2 Live From Outer Space
The numbers associated with the U2360° Tour are staggering: a 170-ton stage rightfully dubbed “the spaceship,” 200 trucks carting it around, 250 speakers, nearly 400 employees and $750,000 a day in overhead. But the band’s stadium show is more than a fantastic spectacle — it’s the biggest rock tour of all time, and Rolling Stone is onstage and backstage with U2’s Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. as they make history in our new issue, on stands today.
Explore three decades of U2 in photos.
Look back at U2’s essential LPs in our album guide.
Read the full story in our new issue to go behind the scenes as U2 prep for their opening-night show in Chicago, tweaking “Your Blue Room” from the band’s 1995 collaboration with Brian Eno; and join them in Croatia as the Edge generates new effects presets on the fly and the band reflects on the significance of performing in the once war-torn nation for the first time since 1997.
Climb aboard “the spaceship” and flip through photos of U2’s massive stage show.
As Rolling Stone tags along in a private jet en route to Chicago, Bono also meditates on what it means to be a rock star in 2009, praising Jay-Z as “a pioneer” who’s interested in a “porous culture, where there’s much more crosstown traffic.” He adds, “In this age of celebrity and pop stardom, maybe it’s a sensible thing to question the values of being a pop star. Radiohead, Pearl Jam, a lot of people, who maybe had more sense than us, rejected it. But the thing that’s suffered from that stance was that precious, pure thing, what they used to call the 45.”
Carter Finley Stadium expects 70K
Triangle - September 30, 2009; Raleigh, NC - The Wake County Sheriff’s Office and a local Irish entrepreneur prepare to welcome international rock group U2 in grand style in anticipation of this Saturday’s concert at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC.
The U2 360 Tour features a 360-degree stage placed toward the center of the Carter Finley’s field. (see attached photo) The unique design has a large, four-legged steel structure called “The Claw” that holds the speaker system and cylindrical video screen and hovers above the performance area. The stage is surrounded by a circular ramp, which connects to the stage using rotating bridges. Fans with general admission tickets can be placed both outside of the ramp, as well as between the ramp and stage.
The stage isn’t quite set for U2’s arrival in Raleigh, but it’s getting there.
More than 250 people are in the process of constructing the stage in the center of the football field at North Carolina State University’s Carter-Finley Stadium, where on Saturday night the legendary band will perform in Raleigh for the first time.
The 360-degree stage features “The Claw,” a towering, four-legged steel structure that holds the speaker system and a cylinndrical video screen over the performance area. A circular ramp will connect the stage to rotating bridges.
To prepare for the event, the sheriff’s office sent a team of deputies to Boston last month to see how the security detail is managed.
The daily costs of the production are an estimated $750,000, and that doesn’t include the stage construction. Truck rentals, transportation and staff wages comprise the majority of that $750,000.
The concert is so big, it is even spilling over all the way to Raleigh’s Glenwood South. Businessman Niall Hanley, the man behind the Hibernian Irish Pubs in Raleigh and Cary, is holding a pre-concert event Thursday at his other major venture, the popular night club Solas. That party will feature U2 cover band “Vertigo.”
“Raleigh has truly arrived,” says Hanley, who, like U2, hails from Ireland. “For a band of U2’s caliber to come to Raleigh shows just how much our city has grown in its reputation as a brilliant place to live, work and visit.”
Raleigh based Irish businessman Niall Hanley is kicking off pre-concert events at Solas in Glenwood South where he’s hosting U2 tribute band “Vertigo” on Thursday, October 1st at 10:00 pm. “Raleigh has truly arrived,” says Hanley who already attended U2’s concert stop in Dublin, Ireland in August. “For a band of U2’s caliber to come to Raleigh shows just how much our city has grown in its reputation as a brilliant place to live, work and visit.”
Yet another questionable review
U2’s show at FedEx Field Tueday night was an awkward, sometimes shapeless, frequently thrilling mix of new of and old. Perhaps in deference to the formidable Bono-quaciousness of prior U2 gigs in this town, where the Nobel Prize nominee has effectively become a part-time resident, U2 gave us a lunch-special version of the menu. It was among the shortest shows of the globetrotting U2 360 tour so far, whittling the tally of tunes from the six-month-old, still-not-platinum No Line on the Horizon to five and offering no additional classics in their place.
But despite Bono’s self-deprecating critique and his C-SPAN name-dropping, he and his three lifelong bandmates sounded stellar. For the last 12 years, you’ve never been able to bank that Bono’s ill-cared-for Vox would make the gig. Last night, he was supple and powerful, especially during the first hour. He cracked horribly during the brief “Amazing Grace” that bridged “One” (introduced via video-message by Desmond Tutu!) and the reliable gig-saver, “Where the Streets Have No Name.” But some songs benefit from a vulnerable singer.
Since you didn’t ask, we also got the tour’s most baffling inclusion, “Your Blue Room,” its final verse recited by a cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station. Oh, you can’t hum that one? It’s an ambient interlude from the 1995 album of soundtracks for imaginary movies that U2 and Brian Eno — oh, forget it. Getting a big crowd to sit still for the new stuff is a fight for every band with a large, beloved back catalogue. Adding a sleepy tune from a 14-year-old side project to the mix borders on the perverse.
Despite passing over some warhorses that have hardly missed a show in decades prior to this tour (“Pride,” “Bullet the Blue Sky”) the concert swam on the back of U2’s still-mighty anthems. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” continues to find solace in the search. Adam Clayton’s clear-cutting bassline for “New Year’s Day” sent a jolt through the audience. And “Streets” remains a stadium-rock aria that U2 will, and should, be playing ‘til their plane goes down.
Well, time was. U2’s prior U.S. stadium roadshows, 1992’s ZOO TV and 1997’s PopMart, were self-aware and satirical in ways no shows of that scale had been. The first was brilliant right out the gate; the second was more of a grower. But both had ideas to sell that were at least as big as their outsized productions.
The 360 Tour is grand pageantry with a groovy soundtrack, but it lacks a governing theme to make it more. U2 shows are preachier now than they ever were in the ’80s, but their ’90s humor is missing, and missed. After three months on the road, they’re still struggling to integrate their new tunes, shuffling them in the set or skipping them outright: Last night, they dropped No Line’s driving title track for the first time. Meanwhile, “Breathe” has the universal embrace that U2 has always aimed for, but stiffs in its role as the show-opener. These guys used to know how to make an entrance, too.
After waiting out the opening trio, the crowd came alive for a buoyant “Mysterious Ways,” as Bono implored us all to “shake your fat ass!” Maybe that’s why U2, now all in their late 40s, are touring beneath that scary, crawly battlebot: It’s slimming!
Only it’s not over, not entirely, and thank God. One of last night’s best performances was “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” rearranged for the clubs to put Clayton’s hypnotic bassline up front. The performance got scowling percussionist Larry Mullen Jr. on his feet to orbit the stage’s outer ramps with a bodhran.
Then U2 shifted into an Irianian-themed “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” for which a turban-wearing fan clambered on stage to wave an American flag and share Bono’s mic for one verse — an apparently spontaneous occurrence, and stirring, unless you’ve a heart of stone. Disco to life-and-death in mere seconds. What other band could get away with it? Who else would try?
Later, Bono sent out “One” to anyone who’s lost a loved one to AIDS. And to Nancy Pelosi (again!). And to former President Bush. And to the Congress. Of the United States. Of America.
If there was, you might have time to play a few more. Like “Bad!” Or “Until the End of the World.” Maybe even something from the criminally underrrated Zooropa album.
Yeah, I know. But you played “Your Blue Room,” so I assume anything is possible. And anyway, isn’t that what you’ve always encouraged us to believe?
Did you attend the show ? What are your comments ? What did you think ? How do you feel about the short set?
Space ship landed on FedEx Field
The space ship landed on FedEx Field and Dublins Boys proved that big is what they are about. The bigger the set the bigger the show.
In fact, if you ask lead singer Bono, the foursome has transcended band status altogether.
“The nation state that is U2 is a global force — yet, a democracy,” he told the crowd last night.
Of course it is, Bono. Now, you put those light purple shades back on and sing us another song.
Because when U2 wants to rock, U2 rocks; “Beautiful Day” was about as epic as epic gets — until they played the even bigger, bolder “Where The Streets Have No Name.”
For most the show seemed excessive, surreal.
There was Bono, clad in all black, preening and preaching about global democracy and the fight against AIDs while standing in the middle of this evil-looking artifice. All the posturing and technological wizardry aside, U2 put on one of the best rock shows you’ll see today.
The genius of The Edge is that even though he blankets his guitar work in reverb, echo and delay, he still sounds organic. Whether plucked or strummed, his notes rang out and filled FedEx Field like few guitarists could.
U2’s two-and-a-half hour show was heavy on songs from their latest album, “No Line on the Horizon,” which is one of their least commercially successful efforts yet. Though the single “Get On Your Boots” is far from being one of U2’s best, live, it had spunk. And “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” worked much better recast as a disco tune.
The night’s most poignant moments came when the band dipped a little deeper into its songbook. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s snare cracked like gunshots on “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” and bassist Adam Clayton’s notes were thick and fuzzy on “New Years Day.”
Here’s a technical question: When the video screen crept downward to form a cylinder just a few feet above the band members’ heads, could the folks on the top tiers see the musicians? No - not unless you looked at the screen.
Bono tossed out teases of songs such as “Blackbird” and “Stand By Me” sporadically through the set, and sang a verse of “Amazing Grace” near the end of the show. U2GIGS always posts the snips on their set list postings. We elect to keep it to a straight official song list.
Bono emerged wearing a jacket that emitted miniature laser-like beams of red light, and sang into a glowing microphone that hung from the rafters. He spoke-sang his way through most of “With or Without You,” and closed out the night with the slow ballad “Moment of Surrender.” That last song drug on for too long — a poor choice to wrap up an otherwise bombastic show.
I am not sure why Bono elected to scream out “Don’t forget about us, now” Of course your fans wall remember, how could they forget the biggest show of all time.
Onward the Band goes and the steel trucks roll down I95 heading South.