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U2 Ready 4 SA
But there’s little chance that U2 fans will feel that divide when they play at FNB Stadium in Joburg tonight.
The spider that arches its magnificent tentacles over the 360º stage where the band will step up as night covers Soweto, dwarfs the World Cup final pitch.
Suddenly it’s intimate. It holds you tighter. As evening laces over the dazzling orange seats, shadows crossing the boundaries, Bono’s promise that every fan there will get the same visual thrill is a sure thing. Their rehearsal pounds over the ground, the light checks turning the stadium into a giant pulsar, a roaring disco for the imagination of the faithful.
The band is having dinner in a box above the spider. It’s Friday night, and they flew into Joburg the day before, but there’s no glimmer of jet lag. Bono is taller than expected, by quite a bit. The Edge says he’s hardly recognisable out there in the world, and trusts the media gathered can make him “more interesting”.
We have resources all around the show tonight for you to be apart of the show.
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U2 to perform
JOHANNESBURG — It’s fitting that one of the most politically plugged-in rock bands is debuting its world tour in South Africa on the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s first major rally after being released from prison, and at the same stadium where the anti-apartheid icon enthralled tens of thousands.
And it’s a coincidence, U2 members told reporters Friday before a rehearsal at the historic FNB Stadium — known as Soccer City when it hosted the World Cup opening and closing games last year, for which it underwent a major renovation.
Guitarist The Edge said he only learned the day before that Sunday’s concert fell on a historic day.
“It’s such a beautiful, poetic day,” he said.
Lead singer Bono noted that history was being made at the other end of Africa. In Egypt Friday, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president after three decades in power and weeks of pro-democracy protests.
“This continent is on fire,” Bono said, adding he hoped Egypt would benefit from leadership as visionary as Mandela’s.
The Edge added: “The real hope for Egypt is that it actually will become more democratic after this.”
Bono said Mandela and retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu — who makes a virtual appearance in U2’s current show — have inspired his global campaigns against AIDS and poverty. Bono was planning to visit AIDS projects in South Africa between Sunday’s concert and a second one in Cape Town on Feb. 18. U2 last played in South Africa in 1998.
The band may also visit Mandela, who is 92, ailing, and retired from public life. Bono said he had been in touch and learned Mandela was doing well after being hospitalized last month with an acute respiratory infection. Bono said a visit was possible, but he would not push.
“The last thing you want to be is the visit that the great man has to endure,” he said.
The band discussed their musical and well as political heroes with reporters Friday. Bassist Adam Clayton said he would like to work with the Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, an opening act for their South African shows. Bono spoke of an early dream of having John Lennon produce their work, laughing at their naivete in their teens.
The band members, together three decades, said the secret to their longevity was friendship.
“We actually started out as friends, and then became a band,” The Edge said.
See U2 live
Fourteen state-of-the-art cameras, 150 tons of heavy metal digital cylinder screens and a mega-revved-up sound system – this is what’s in store for the almost 95 000 U2 fans who will be dancing under the special “The Claw” stage tomorrow evening.
And if you fancy being part of history, in what has been dubbed the biggest rock tour to hit South Africa, Computicket has announced that a fresh batch of tickets is on sale.
“We have gone overboard with the sound system. Nothing like this has ever been done before,” said production director Jake Berry during an interview with the Saturday Star at the FNB stadium yesterday.
He said up to five cranes were needed to create the stage’s flat surface which is 48m deep.
“The grass had to be ripped out in order to make way for the cranes. It will however be (restored) after the concert,” he said.
What many fans will be happy to know is that no power shortages or blackouts have been predicted on the day.
“Everything you see here is ours. No mention of cable theft or any event that has taken place during the last four days will affect the concert in anyway,” Berry said.
The U2 360º tour is a world-wide concert tour which was launched in support of the group’s 2009 album titled No Line on the Horizon.
The tour has been touted to visit various stadiums this year.
Berry, however, reflected on the weather, saying the only concern for them was lightning.
“It’s more about safety than anything else. If lightning was to occur then we would have to monitor the situation, which would even result in halting the performances if need arises,” Berry said.
It took U2’s 134-member crew and a South African production crew comprising 150 members to assemble the stage in just over eight days.
“We couldn’t have done this without local help,” Berry said.
The production crew also said the stage had been structured in a way that would make the stadium look bigger.
Why Soweto and why FNB?
Berry said the essence of hosting the tour at the former World Cup stadium meant that it would be a visually bigger concert.
“Apart from that we love performing at new buildings,” he added.
Manager Paul McGuiness said while Irish singer Bono and his band had not performed since Australia last December, it made logical sense to stop in South Africa and perform a couple of shows before jetting off to other destinations.
A Cape Town performance will follow at the Green Point stadium on February 18.
Meanwhile, fans have been advised to arrive three hours before the show kicks off.
Gates to the stadium will be opened at 4.30pm and the show is due to start at 8pm and end at 11.30pm.
Organisers also revealed that trains and park-and-rides were also available to ease traffic congestion.
Security will also be beefed up on the day as the South African police services and more than five security firms keep over-eager fans under control. - Saturday Star
Stage Set, Band Arrived, Ready 2 Rock !
The band is touring South Africa as part of its 360 Degrees Tour that was launched in 2009.
After the Sunday gig at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg the 22-time Grammy Award-winning band will move to Cape Town to perform on February 18.
Tickets went on sale in October and by yesterday 101,000 had been snapped up. The stage will allow all fans at the 11,0000-seater stadium to have a clear view of the group.
The stage, designed by Willie Williams, who has worked on 10 productions with the band, was built by Belgian company Stageco. It is 24,7metres high and can support up to 180tons.
The steel stage also includes a cylindrical video screen, that weighs 54 tonnes.
Launched in support of the group’s 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon, the tour won the Billboard Touring Award for highest grossing tour in 2009 and last year.
The group, which is led by Bono, was formed in Dublin (Ireland) in 1976 and has sold more than 150 million records.
Big Concerts Big Trouble
The South African Roadies’ Association says it will picket U2’s show at Johannesburg FNB Stadium Feb. 13 because it claims that several firms associated with the gig are employing racist policies.
E-mail correspondence seen by Pollstar indicates SARA chief Freddie Nyathela believes a picket may be the only way his members can draw attention to their cause.
Nyathela sent an open letter Feb. 4 to the numerous sponsors and service providers associated with U2’s South African shows.
It named promoter Big Concerts, production house Mushroom Productions, labour broker Running Crew and numerous companies in the Gearhouse Group as being companies that have failed to involve black production staff when top acts visit the country.
“The South African Roadies Association intends to mount a picket backstage at the U2 Johannesburg concert venue during U2’s visit to South Africa, to highlight the travesty and affront that such sponsorship and service use support of untransformed companies represents,” the open letter said.
It also attacked telecoms company 8ta, a major sponsor of the U2 dates, and hospitality service provider Warwick Events for being involved with the shows. Both companies are otherwise said to have strong commitments to skills transformation and employment equality.
It wasn’t possible to get comment from U2 manager Paul McGuinness or agent John Giddings at press time.
The threat of a picket is just the latest turn in what The Sowetan called Nyathela’s “silent but raging war.” Copies of the correspondence between the SARA chief and most of the rest of the South African live music business suggests he’s been anything but silent.
Big Concerts chief Attie van Wyk, whose company is promoting the U2 shows with Live Nation, has already had to take legal action because Nyathela openly accused the firm of racism.
Van Wyk and Gearhouse managing director Ofer Lapid deny that their decision not to use SARA crew is based on racist grounds, pointing out that at least half of their workers on any given show day are non-white.
In the last four months, Nyathela’s outbursts have also angered Technical Production Services Association chairman Robbie Blake, after he’d offered to mediate between SARA and the various live music companies.
Blake offered to set up a meeting between all sides and would have scheduled it for January, but that wasn’t soon enough for Nyathela and their correspondence appears to have come to a vitriolic end just before Christmas.
Nyathela looks to have failed in his attempt to set up a skills session between his members and U2’s crew.
The act, which hasn’t played South Africa since 1998, is also playing Cape Town Stadium Feb. 18.
The Johannesburg venue has already had its own production hiccup as last week it was discovered that thieves made off with all its power cables. The FNB released a statement assuring punters that the problem would be rectified long before show day.
Big Concerts has also rescheduled the Kings Of Leon shows that were postponed because drummer Nathan Followill needed surgery on a torn shoulder. The act will play Johannesburg and Cape Town in October.