Sweetest Thing: U2 break Rolling Stones tour record
Bono and Adam Clayton on stage in Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany, in 2009.Bono and Adam Clayton on stage in Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany, in 2009.
BRIAN BOYD
U2 HAVE broken the record for having the highest ever grossing concert tour.
Following their Sunday night show at Brazil’s Morumbi stadium, the band passed the previous $554 million (€384 million) record held by the Rolling Stones. U2’s gross for their current “3600” tour stands at $558 million and it is expected to top $700 million before finishing in the US at the end of July.U2 have long been chasing the Stones who have held the title since 2006 after “A Bigger Bang” tour sales.
The record was supposed to fall last year but due to Bono’s back surgery many of the dates had to be rearranged for this year. “It’s kind of mind-blowing,” says U2 manager Paul McGuinness. “It means that it’s a tour record that will probably never be outstripped. That dollar figure for the gross looks enormous. Of course I can’t tell you what the net is!”
The tour began in Barcelona in July 2009. The band have now played to more than five million people across
Europe, North and South America, South Africa and Australia. Seven million people will have seen the show by the time it finishes in July.
It’s one of the first major music tours not to use the traditional proscenium arch set-up – putting a stage at one end of the stadium. Instead a giant “claw” (which cost €100 million) was placed in the middle of stadiums – effectively allowing the band to play in the round and allowing for greater capacity at venues.
