Want to work for U2 ?

Organizers of a U2 concert in Moncton this summer are on the hunt for hundreds of temporary workers needed to erect a massive stage, grandstands and lighting and sound systems at Magnetic Hill.

Pascal Dube of Stage Crew Inc. of Moncton is looking for riggers, forklift drivers, truck loaders, stage hands and general labourers.

It will be a huge job that will begin about a week before the concert.

The U2 stage, a huge metal claw with four legs and giant video screens that stands about 50 metres tall, will likely be the biggest yet erected at the outdoor venue.

As a contractor to the touring company, Dube will be responsible for working with U2’s road crew to make sure everything is set up and ready to go when the band arrives.

He can’t say exactly how many people he will need but said the AC/DC show in Moncton in 2009 required more than 200 people — and the U2 show is expected to be bigger with up to 100,000 spectators.

“We have people coming from all over New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia to work at the show. And they don’t come just for the work because they have other jobs — they gotta love doing it,” Dube said.

“In this job you get to meet people from all over the world and get to be part of putting this big show together. It’s all about the music.”

The July 30 show will be the final North American date of the U2 360 Tour. The opening act is Montreal’s Arcade Fire, which received a best album Grammy last weekend for The Suburbs.

Besides all the riggers and stagehands, the U2 concert is expected to provide many other short-term jobs in security, food service, beverage service, traffic control and the box office.

Shane Porter, the City of Moncton’s supervisor of special events, said extra security will also be recruited while traffic control in and out of the site will be handled by the RCMP.



Cape Town Fans !

CAPE TOWN’S fan walk will be opened again on Friday for U2’s 360° Tour concert.

The concert is due to start at 7.30pm with gates opening at Cape Town Stadium at 4.30pm. The fan walk will be opened at 3.30pm.

City of Cape Town spokeswoman Kylie Hatton said the city saw the fan walk as an important access point for people using public transport to get to the stadium.

“It is a good way of moving people safely from Cape Town Station, where a lot of people will be getting off, to the stadium. The fans will get to walk in a cordoned-off area past murals and other attractions.”

The fan walk will feature large print murals depicting the Irish band’s history as well as iconic elements from some of their best-selling albums.

Marc Le Chat, from Celebrity Service Africa, which is in charge of organising events along the fan walk, said Cape Town band Almost Famous would perform from the roof of a building on Somerset Road in Green Point and would also perform a repertoire of U2 hits.

He said there would be an LED screen at St Andrews Square that would display the band’s music.

Le Chat said they would also place sky search beams at Exchange Place, St Andrews Square and along Main Road towards the stadium and beam through the night. Fire dancers would perform after the concert on the route.

 

 

Meanwhile, fans still desperate to get their hands on tickets can win some with Kfm.

 

Since yesterday, stages have been set up and will be moved to locations across the city where fans who know the lyrics off by heart can sing their way to the tickets up for grabs.

Kfm programme manager Ian Bredenkamp said:

“If Kfm crosses live from the studio to the U2 activation site, the person currently singing on stage will win eight tickets. You don’t need to be good, you just need to be there.”

Tomorrow the Kfm stages will be at the Edgemead Spar Centre (Letchworth Drive) from 9am to 10am and Thibault Square between noon and 1pm; on Thursday at Tyger Valley Mall and the V&A Waterfront between noon and 1pm; and on Friday outside Cape Town Stadium between 8am and 9am and noon to 1pm.

 

For more information visit www.kfm.co.za

Full details of road closures are obtainable at www.capetown.gov.za or at 0800 65 64 63.

U2 wows crowd in Joburg

With a roar that could rival the one seen last week in Tahrir square, Cairo, fans at the FNB Stadium last night gave U2 a rousing welcome.

But unlike the relief of Egyptians at President Hosni Mubarak’s exit from his position, fans here were celebrating seeing their favourite band playing in their own back yard.

And as lead singer Bono led the band up a stairway to the stage milking the applause and waving to all corners of the dimly lit cauldron, you knew why they’d sold over 150 million albums worldwide.

After the deafening welcoming screams, Bono wasted no time in belting out one of their biggest hits, Beautiful Day.

For another hit, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela was called on stage - to yet another massive cheer.

Former president Nelson Mandela also got a special mention, and even a video of his speech calling for “a united South Africa” was played on the big screen. Bishop Desmond Tutu sent a video message.

In between songs, Bono said: “We told you in 1998 that we’d be back … never trust a rock star. Anyway, we’re not finished yet … we’re happy to be back.”

Fans marvelled at the massive cylindrical big screen, as it expanded and contracted to create a kaleidoscopic mosaic.

Earlier in the evening, two unruly fans who got involved in a scuffle with security, were kicked out before U2’s roadies were done with sound checks. By the time the Malian duo of Amadou and Mariam, said their “merci beaucoup”, the stadium was rocking.

Local outfit the Springbok Nude Girls, led by the energetic Arno Carstens, played an impressive and compact set, which included the songs Gang Gang, I Love You, Genie and Bubblegum.

Almost an hour and a half before the Irish rock band hit the stage, thousands of fans, some in wheelchairs, others heavily pregnant and others drunk, took pictures and danced under the imposing “Claw” - the name given to the band’s 360-degree stage.

There were scores of fans in their U2 attire, standing in queues for refreshments and for toilet breaks.

Eyewitness News was inundated with calls about long queues, traffic problems and a lack of water at the concert. Jack Longford, CEO of organisers Big Concerts, denied there was a shortage of water or food and said people needed to be patient.

The band will play at the Cape Town Stadium on February 18 before heading to South America. The tour ends in July.

Thanks Media Sponsor #U2Highveld

We have to thank our friends for their support. If your in S.A. you should tune into 94.7 - Follow todays show on twitter #U2Highveld #U2TOURFANS
94.7 Highveld Stereo is Joburg’s No.1 Hit Music Station.  It broadcasts on 94.7 FM in the greater Gauteng metropolitan areas to almost 1.4 million listeners who love life and love to laugh.  94.7 target an affluent audience, LSM 7 to 10 and age 25 - 49.  More than half of the listeners are in LSM 9 & 10 and 70% of the listeners have a household income of more than R11 000 per month.  The station has a very even gender split with 53% female and 47% male.

U2 Ready 4 SA

The greatest rock band in the world wake up every day with the fear of mistaking themselves for great. That’s what Bono says. “If you get to be very good, (you find) there’s a huge chasm between very good and great.”

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.

Twitter.com /

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U2 South Africa Team Twitter


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.