Recently in the Tour News Category

WASHINGTON, PRNewswire-USNewswire -- NASA and U2 released a commemorative video highlighting a year's worth of collaboration in space and on the Irish rock band's 360 Degree tour.

U2 approached NASA in 2009 with an idea to include a dialogue between the band and the crew of the International Space Station during U2's world tour. The astronauts of Expedition 20, the crew then living aboard the space station, agreed to participate and spoke with U2 several times before recording a video segment the band incorporated into its concerts.

The space station crew members were Michael Barratt of NASA, Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency, Bob Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Gennady Padalka and Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty said five of its activists were detained while distributing flyers at a U2 concert in Moscow on Wednesday, which ended with a celebrated Kremlin critic joining the Irish rock stars on stage.

Police detained the five volunteers who were distributing leaflets and displaying banners for holding an unsanctioned protest at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium, the head of Amnesty International in Russia Sergei Nikitin told the Interfax news agency.

"I am very sorry about what happened ... it overshadowed the concert," Nikitin said. He said the activists were later released without charge. Interfax quoted an unnamed police official as saying two activists were detained.

By Ian Simpson

TURIN, Italy (Reuters) - U2 frontman Bono burst back onto rock's center stage on Friday after a two-month absence for a back injury, as the Irish band resumed what its manager predicts will be the most lucrative concert tour in history.

U2 shook a packed Olympic stadium in the northern Italian city of Turin as Bono strutted, pranced, jogged and danced with little sign of being a 50-year-old rock star just 10 weeks off spinal surgery.

"I don't really know how to hold back, is the problem. You have to let the songs sing you at a certain point," Bono told Reuters just before relaunching the second leg of U2's 360 Degree Tour, so called because fans surround a giant circular platform.

U2 and Bono, who said he had done rehabilitation work for three to four hours a day, kicked off a rousing set with "Beautiful Day" and "Magnificent." They also played two new tracks called "North Star Acoustic" and "Glastonbury."

The Courier-Mail

THE second week of December is firming as the window of U2's return to Brisbane, provided Bono bounces, ah... back from surgery.

Moves are under way to get the Irish rock monolith sorted for a Suncorp Stadium assault, the preferred venue after the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre left a bad taste in the group's mouth in 2006.

It's understood police licensing have signed off on the event, however, a well-placed industry insider said U2 management were still awaiting a medical report on Bono's back before locking a date in.

"I'm going to be fighting fit next summer in the U.S.," Bono tells fans

By Rolling Stone Magazine

In late May, the biggest rock tour in history hit a speed bump: Bono underwent emergency back surgery in Munich for a compressed sciatic nerve that forced U2 to postpone the summer leg of their mammoth 360° Tour and cancel their headlining spot at Glastonbury. After nearly two months, the band has broken its silence in a homemade video shot by drummer Larry Mullen Jr., in which all four bandmembers give fans the good news: Bono is healthy, the band is in the studio, and U2 will be back in American stadiums in the summer of 2011.

Look back at three decades of U2, onstage and off.

Revealing he's "very well," Bono says he's "feeling strong, feeling confident, and I am ready, rebuilt by German engineering -- better design I'm told." The 360° Tour, originally scheduled to launch June 3rd in Salt Lake City, Utah, will now kick off May 21st, 2011 in Denver. Bono's swift recovery is permitting the band to play its summer 2010 dates in Europe as scheduled, beginning August 6th in Turin, Italy. All tickets previously sold for the North American tour will be valid at the rescheduled performances, and additional dates and cities will be added to the current 16-show itinerary.

By Aoife Anderson, Herald.ie

BONO will be back on stage in a matter of weeks despite his recent emergency surgery, according to U2's manager Paul McGuinness.

The Irish rocker (50) was operated on after becoming temporarily paralysed -- forcing the band to cancel the start of the US leg of their 360° Tour and their headline slot at Glastonbury.

An optimistic McGuinness told the Diary: "He's making a full recovery. The doctors told me he's going to be fine. It was serious surgery but we expect him to make a full recovery. He's pretty fit."

McGuinness said there was no reason to believe the tour's massive stage production had anything to do with the singer's injury.

By Buzz Brady, Irish Central

Bono, who is at home recovering from major back surgery and has postponed his North American tour this summer, admitted that the band took a big risk using a futuristic spider-like stage in their 360 Degree tour.

The band created a stage that allowed viewing opportunities from every angel of a theater or stadium and spent millions of dollars in doing so.
Bono said: "Had it flopped on the first night, we would have been in some deep doo-doo.

"Think about a rock show in 360 degrees with the scale of a gigantic action film, except you're moving location every few days. You're building a whole city, then knocking it down, putting it into trucks and moving. It's quite something.

Festival spokesperson says Bono and co are likely to play there eventually

NME

U2 may play at the Glastonbury festival next year after having to cancel their June 25 headline slot for this year, a spokesperson for the event has said.

Gorillaz have replaced U2 on the bill after Bono required emergency back surgery, and now a spokesperson for the festival has told the Irish Post that we shouldn't be too surprised if they come back next year instead.

"They've never played here before and we're very disappointed they can't perform," the spokesperson explained, "but they could well be back next year."

As well as Gorillaz, Muse and Stevie Wonder are set to play headline slots at the sold-out Somerset event.

© IPC MEDIA 1996-2010, All rights reserved.

Huge sums of money, plus bragging rights as the most popular live act of all time, rest on the speed of a certain 50-year-old's recovery, writes BRIAN BOYD

Irish Times

NOW THAT U2'S North American tour has been postponed because of Bono's back surgery, it's time for all involved to start totting up the cost. "U2's daily tour overhead spend is $750,000 [€950,000]," says an Irish music-tour insider. "Bono's back has put them out of action for two months. They're insured for show postponement, but that's not the full story. The set-up costs of the three Claws they use was phenomenal. They don't need this, their insurance company doesn't need this and the global touring economy doesn't need this. It's not just the show day; it's the three of four days before setting up the stadium, one day stripping it down after, the 200 trucks, the drivers, the security, the merchandising people, the drinks and food people, the programme sellers, costume, make-up and hundreds of other people. U2 would have over 100 permanent touring personnel and an extra 200-300 working personnel at each local venue. It's the hotels, the flights, the food vouchers. It's like a small country coming to a standstill."

Arthur Fogel, chief executive of U2's concert promoter, Live Nation, says of the 360º tour postponement: "There's no question this is monumental."

But enforced rest could be boon to U2

By Steve Chagollan, Variety

The decision to postpone U2's U.S. concerts until next year because of Bono's back surgery not only has affected the bottom line for concert promoter Live Nation and the organizers of the Glastonbury Festival, where U2 was scheduled to headline in late June, but could make a significant dent in the 2010 concert business overall.

"When you have an act like U2 (touring), it greatly inflates the (year's) revenues," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar.

The Irish rockers, whose shows have become huge in scale, were the top draw in the U.S. last year, accruing $123 million in gross receipts, according to Pollstar. They were the only act to top the $100 million mark (Springsteen finished at No. 2 with $94.5 million) despite playing only 20 dates. The shows also contributed to an overall 12% boost in concert revenue ($4.4 billion) over the previous year and a 14% hike in attendance (73 million).