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 ?