The project began in April 2010 and was completed earlier this month. According to U2Achtung.com, Hitoz spent more than 300 hours (!) working on the replica of U2′s tour stage. It has 103 LEDs and 20 meters of electric wiring, which you can see in action toward the end of the video below.

Huge props to Hitoz — this thing is great!

(thx to Beth for the tip)

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

(VIDEO) French U2 Fan Makes a “Baby Claw”

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Davy Jones’ U2 Connection

U2 played to 420 people that night and the show grossed $2,520. Tickets were only $6 each. Amazing to think that 10 seats (in some sections) on the U2 360 tour grossed about the same as that show way back when….

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

(PHOTO) When U2 Only Grossed $2,500 Per Show

After a nearly three-year legal battle, a court order has forced the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA) to make public hundreds of contracts that it signed for concerts that have been held at the Meadowlands complex — the stadium and arena. You can read more about the court fight on NJ.com.

Also on that page is a viewable PDF with thousands of scanned pages from those contracts (and a link to download the PDF if you’re so inclined).

It just so happens that the released documents includes the contract that NJSEA signed with Live Nation for the two U2 concerts on September 23 and 24, 2009. I’ve read through that material and put together this collection of notes that any U2 fan might find interesting.

Note, too, that U2 was originally scheduled to perform on September 24 and 25, but the second show had to be moved after the New York Jets football team rescheduled their September 27th game.

Here are the details that I found interesting…

Live Nation rents the facility from September 20 at 7:00 pm until September 26 at 11:59 pm.

Stadium rental fee: $252,500, plus $15,000 per day if additional time is needed

Ticketmaster is the approved ticketing agency.

All seating is reserved, floor is general admission.

Four ticket prices: $253, $98, $58 and $33

Stadium authority gets to set aside 750 tickets per show and buy them from Live Nation at discounts: $25 for $253 tickets and $15 for $98 and $53 tickets.

Stadium authority gets to collect and keep $15 service fee on $253 tickets, $10 service fee on $98 tickets and a $5 service fee on $58 tickets.

Ticket prices include $3 facility fee, to be split equally between stadium and Live Nation. Ticketmaster also entitled to charge a convenience fee.

Stadium gets to keep use of 9 suites at no charge.

Stadium can hold tickets related to obstructed view suites until Sept. 14 – after that date, all held seats will be released to general public for sale.

Live Nation gets 100 parking passes, plus parking space for working personnel.

Live Nation has a separate contract with Aramark for merchandise sales. Split is 77.5% / 22.5% on sales, which can change to 80/20 split based on sales totals. (Assume Live Nation gets larger portion of the split.)

Stadium determines where merchandise booths are located.

Live Nation required to purchase minimum $5 million insurance policy to cover bodily injury and property damage. Live Nation and U2 also required to have Workers Compensation insurance as required by state law. Proof of insurance must be supplied at least 10 days prior to the concert.

Stadium agrees to open doors at 5:30 pm.

September 25th rescheduling:

• Stadium liable to pay for 1) ticket refunds, 2) cancellation of suite holds/requests, and 3) any other claims by ticket holders including lost expenses like travel, hotel. Stadium and Live Nation agree to cooperate to “defend and/or minimize and/or settle” type 3 claims.
• Stadium liable for all those claims up to $735,000 (which represented 10% of ticket/suite sales at time of contract).
• Stadium discounts the rent for September 23 show from $155,000 to $77,500.

All advertising and promotional activity will be directed by Live Nation’s Tour Promoter.

Stadium agrees to turn off all signs inside the stadium during the concert, and agrees to use “best efforts” to cover signs near the stage to avoid appearance of sponsorship/endorsement with U2.

Blackberry has right to participate in all press/publicity events.

All advertisements, promotions must include “U2 presented by Blackberry.”

Blackberry is allowed to run booths/kiosks on-site for marketing, and may include giveaways; any sales must go through Aramark.

Stadium will provide a 100-person hospitality suite to Blackberry for pre- and post-event parties.

Blackberry gets up to 20 “prime” pairs of tickets for free, and right to buy more tickets.

Stadium allows Live Nation to distribute charity-related pamphlets.

Stadium must provide daily ticket sales counts to Live Nation, but is not allowed to provide ticket counts to anyone else.

Stadium and/or Ticketmaster will provide Live Nation with ticket customer details, including “addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.”

Contract recommends that seated and floor tickets be withheld from sale to allow for “unforeseen seating difficulties” (i.e., relocating troubled ticket holders).

Live Nation has right to contract with a third party for ticket/transportation packages.

U2 gets two private suites.

Venue is allowed to sell VIP packages and gets 10% commission on the gross, less the cost of tickets.

“It is the policy of the Tour that no cameras or recording devices of any kind be admitted to the Venue.”

Tour policy disallows sales of bottles, cans and other “potentially dangerous objects” and venue agrees not to serve refreshments in cans, bottles, glassware or other hard containers.

Live Nation gets use of venue’s in-house video screens/scoreboard at no extra charge.

Venue will supply parking for up to 70 tractor-trailers, 12 tour buses and 50 vehicles at no extra cost.

T1 lines (internet) are installed at $250 plus $75 per additional day of service.

(END)

So now you know a little more about what goes into a U2 concert contract! Thanks to @carynrose on Twitter for the tip.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

U2 at Giants Stadium: A Look at The Live Nation Concert Contract

Add this to your collection of rare, early U2 audio clips. This is U2 performing “Out Of Control” at the Dandelion Market in August 1979. The sound quality is pretty darn good for a recording that’s just surfaced now, some 32 years later.

The audio comes from Pete McCluskey, who was in the Irish Independent this weekend sharing a photo from backstage at a different gig when his band, The Strougers, opened for U2.

By the way, this Dandelion gig is one of those where the date isn’t certain. On Pete’s video, he lists it as August 11, 1979. But when I interviewed Chas de Whaley a couple years ago for U2-A Diary, de Whalley was certain that the gig happened on August 4th, because he was in town that weekend to record the songs that later showed up on the U2-3 EP.

But nevermind the exact date uncertainty — it’s a really unique piece of audio from way back when.

UPDATE: We now have confirmation that the gig did happen on August 11th, and the Howth performance was on August 10th, instead. We’ll update U2tours.com to reflect that.

Also very interesting: Edge did not play the gig on August 11th because he was sick. The audio you hear above is U2 playing with a guitarist named Joe Savino, who filled in for Edge. Savino was part of a group called The Brown Thomas Band.

UPDATE #2: As Pete clarifies down below in the comments, that is The Edge you hear playing guitar on this song from August 11th. Instead, it was the July 28, 1979 Dandelion Market gig that Edge missed. Thx Pete!

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

RARE AUDIO: U2 live at the Dandelion Market, 1979

Gizmodo reported today that David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” will be hitting shelves as an illustrated children’s book thanks to Andrew Kolb. I believe this ranks right up there will a must-have for any U2 fan who enjoyed the U2360 tour!

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Space Oddity: The Children’s Book

Since then, I’ve seen her learn to eat solid foods, sit up, crawl, walk, stumble, lift herself up again, clap, talk, sing, count and almost be potty trained. My heart has been overflowing seeing her come to an understanding of the world around her, how she fits in it, and how to express joy at almost anything. Watching the world revolve through her eyes has given me such a different perspective on U2.

Her developmental milestones have given me a unique view on the metamorphosis of the U2360 Tour. I was fortunate to have seen it five times in person, and I’ve followed the majority of it online through various streams and online communities. I’ve seen this tour evolve from a band trying to prove their new material is just as strong as their old material to a band who has grown into the joy of just playing whatever songs they want on any given night. The mood of the band in Pittsburgh last week was much different than what I saw in Foxboro back in 2009. Granted, being so close to the tour’s end can alter anyone’s mood. However, after taking in several end-of-tour gigs over the past few tours, there was a definite difference in the way U2 was on stage. There was no cocky confidence, rather a level of comfort with each other that only comes with decades of friendship. They weren’t on stage because they needed to, they were on stage because they wanted to. (Well, contractually they needed to, but that’s a minor point.)

With this tour, they’ve already proven everything they’ve set out to accomplish: They are the biggest and best rock band on the planet. The tour statistics should be proof enough. If you still need convincing, how many other bands are confident enough in themselves to pull fans up on stage and let them play your guitar (Nashville), slow dance (Pittsburgh), sing a song snippet (Raleigh) and so on and so on. They have found ways to make their shows magical for fans worldwide. For those lucky volunteers who got to join U2 on stage during “Walk On” (myself included), the transformation from wearing Aung San Suu Kyi’s mask to being a beam of light to bring awareness to the thousands still imprisoned in Burma was a game changer with the show.

In my 50+ concerts I’ve seen since 1992, this tour has moved me in ways I didn’t expect. I found there was a maturity level in the U2360 shows that wasn’t there in others in that the subtlety of messaging meant you had to be looking for the show’s theme as opposed to other tours where it was more in your face, such as ZooTV. More than anything, I found the U2360 Tour to be more of a spiritual journey than a political one. Maybe ending with “Moment of Surrender” would make me feel that way. I found the theme of surrender to be a thread throughout the show. In Pittsburgh, Bono made it a point to watch the audience with their hands up in the air during “I Will Follow” as we all surrendered to the moment.

At the end of this long journey, I found that the best shows were the ones where U2 surrendered to that moment and played with abandonment. Taking the pressure off to prove themselves, they found their footing and their better performances came through as a result. They did what came naturally to them, and as Larry has said “Live is where we live.”

So, as my now 29-month-old daughter is fighting to find her independence and her identity, the U2360 Tour can finally claim its own too. We’ll all be talking about this tour for a good long time, and hopefully we’ll all look back on it with the same fondness and sentimentality as a parent looks at their kids’ photos and how they’ve grown up too fast.

The Pittsburgh show provided me with soul food that I couldn’t find at any restaurant in the three rivers area. Walking out of the show, I had the same grin on my face as fans who have seen this band since the very beginning over 30 years ago. As I finish this U2360 Tour eulogy, I am at peace that my favorite band in the whole wide world rocked the planet in a way that no other band ever has … and perhaps ever will. For tonight in Moncton, it’s celebration time. So, let’s all get on our party hats and raise a glass to everyone who made this tour happen. I know that this is not goodbye.

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

I Know That This Is Not Goodbye, U2

I was so excited for this concert. Those that know me on our forum are well aware I’ve been a U2 fan since their first appearance in the club called the Ritz in Manhattan in the early 80′s. I am the same age as the band. What surprises some is that I’ve only seen them play live 4 times in all those years – the NYC club date, the Joshua Tree Tour in ’87, and 2 dates at the Meadowlands on this 360 Tour in ’09 and last night. I don’t own any U2 memorabilia to brag about nor do I have a huge collection of rare records. While those things are wonderful, I don’t believe that makes me any less of a fan. I am connected to them in my heart where it truly matters to me. I suppose all my excitement got the best of me because when I arrived at the stadium, I walked into the “Male Guests” line to get searched . Oooops! My friend started laughing and then I realized my mistake. I just wanted to get in there! A favorite pre-show moment for me was hearing Gavin Friday’s “Able” . I screamed Gavin and gave him a standing ovation at the end. The people next to me thought I was crazy!

Shortly thereafter, the excitement of the crowd started to build as the lights went down and the boys appeared out of the tunnel. I had a great view of that moment. Some people in our forum complain about set lists but when you are there at that moment, you just don’t care what they are going to play. At least I didn’t. I was thrilled to hear “Magnificent” as it is a favorite of mine on No Line On The Horizon, an album I adore. It sounds amazing live. As the first few songs from Achtung Baby were played, I thought Bono’s voice never sounded better. I could even see a bit of that devilish Mac Phisto in his eyes during “The Fly”. His vocal on “Miss Sarajevo” was breathtaking. It was a big moment for me as I have never heard this beautiful song live. I know Luciano Pavarotti was looking down at his friend and smiling. “Stay” gave me chills. It is one of my all time favorites. ” I Will Follow” brought back so many happy memories as I danced to it. I described Bono as a “beast” that evening. I just couldn’t think of another word to describe this force of nature that jumped on that stage. He moved around like Spider-Man ! Edge played that guitar like he was playing for his life. Cool hand Adam was in his zone playing his groovy bass. He is playing better than I’ve ever heard him play. Larry pounded his drums with the same intensity that he did in the Artane Boy’s Band all those years ago. From the very beginning you felt that they were a band on a mission-very intense yet joyful to be on that stage. The crowd was with them every step of the way singing along, jumping and dancing.

Another personal highlight for me which I was looking forward to for a long time was hearing “Scarlet.” As my forum friends know, I am huge October fan. When Bono sang the word “rejoice” all I could think about was my 3 forum friends at that moment who adore this album as much as I do. One was in Scotland , one in France and one was right there in the stadium with me. A one word lyric so powerful when sung by Bono that I felt their joy in my heart at that very moment. I knew they were thinking of us all day. Though I am so thrilled to have this song make it and remain in the set list, I have a small bit of disappointment that no other song from October made it in. This was such an important, beautiful,  and under rated U2 album and it has a big 30th anniversary this year. I wish they would have honored that by putting another song in the set. Still , we can’t have everything we want and that is just fine because what they gave us was more than enough.

The Amnesty International candle lights were hauntingly beautiful carried by their volunteers as “Walk On” played for Aung San Suu Kyi. Her recorded speech was inspiring. What a lovely tribute to this brave woman. When I go to shows, I listen to the music, but I also like to soak up each and every detail. While “Zooropa” played , I watched the night sky light up from the Claw in all the colors of a rainbow as some planes flew above taking it all in from that perspective. When Streets played I honestly thought this brand new stadium was going to crumble to the ground with the force of all the jumping and dancing. I loved watching the fans on the upper tier having just as much fun as the fans down in GA. It didn’t matter where you were. You felt the love from the band anywhere in that place. We were all one as the band sang “One”. I noticed Bono overcome with emotion a number of times. He often put his hands on his heart then offered it back to us by raising his arms out. When he needed to drink some water, we just sang for him as he took a quick break. It was an extremely hot and humid evening – yes, even hotter than a hairdryer in your face! By the way, a “New York” snippet like that would have been perfect there! I had one moment of worry when Bono told us he felt faint. He wasn’t joking. Fans were sweating just sitting there but to do what he was doing on that stage without fainting was nothing short of a miracle.

I must confess I felt long before this show that it would indeed be a special one, but it really turned out to be epic (2 1/2 hours in the tradition of Mr. Springsteen). Epic is the word I thought of as I left the stadium. I just read that is exactly what Rolling Stone is calling this show as well. U2 always puts on an amazing show for their fans, but I do believe New York has special significance to them. Perhaps it is because it’s Bono’s second home and the band spends so much time there or all the  wonderful moments they had at their many shows in East Rutherford in the old Giants Stadium. I happen to believe the loss of Clarence Clemons and the presence of the “Boss” Bruce Springsteen in the house is what really made the magic happen there that night. Early in the show,  Bono was given a set list from their show at the Fast Lane in Asbury Park, New Jersey in the 80′s. It is a place Bruce often played. He laughed when he saw how many songs from Boy were played more than once simply because they just didn’t have any more songs to play at the time. He did make reference to “Out of Control” being the encore back then which led me to suspect that could be our “surprise” song of this set list. There was a lot of talk of “Bad” , but I feel at the last moment they made the right decision for this night with this crowd. Nostalgia was in the air. It was perfect. I feel Moncton may  get “Bad”. Just a hunch.

The most heartfelt and touching moment occurred  when Bono took a home made sign from some young fans and placed it up on stage in front of Larry’s drums. It was not that big. It was yellow and all it said in red letters was FOR CLARENCE. I realized then why this show was so important. You could almost feel that Clarence’s spirit was there with us at that very moment. U2 was giving it their all in Clarence’s place for him and for their friend, Bruce Springsteen who is still grieving over the loss of his dear friend. In my opinion, I feel Bruce did not take the stage to join U2 for that very reason.

When they uttered those words “one more” after “Moment of Surrender”, I was like a small child so excited with anticipation about which one it would be! Then I heard the first guitar sounds of “Out of Control” and suddenly I went out of control. As I danced , I closed my eyes and for a brief moment in time , I was back at the Ritz in the 80′s. I could actually smell the beer and feel the sticky floor on my shoes! It was only at the very end that I remembered I was in the New Meadowlands Stadium. I had just come full circle with my beloved band – yes, a 360 ( U2 pun definitely intended here). The 30 years of joy they brought me all flashed before my eyes. A few tears came down my cheek. It took me by surprise. I asked my friend for a tissue because I didn’t want to look  silly when the lights came on. I am among friends here so I can admit that to all of you now.

As U2 walked through the tunnel and disappeared , I shouted ” Dream it all up again and come back.” It is probably just as well they didn’t play” Bad”. My friend only had one tissue and that most certainly would not have been enough.

I am no longer a child, but I still believe in magic.

For those not in attendance, here is the magic at the Meadowlands. Enjoy!

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Magic at the Meadowlands

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Kids’ “My 1st U2 Concert” T-Shirts Do The Trick In Montreal

Go read her blog about it and listen to the WAV file of his message from Ephesians 3, titled “What If God Is Even Greater Than We Think?” God Girl captured his talk on her phone (and posted with his permission.) She mentioned to me the other voices on the recording are lead pastor Jeff Tacklind doing the introduction, and then at the end, you hear pastors Jay Grant and Brad Coleman, along with Tacklind, praying a blessing over Heaslip.

Many will know from U2′s biography that Heaslip was a high school guidance counselor at Mt. Temple Comprehensive in the 1970s, where U2 first met him. He has since become an ordained Anglican priest.

Many will know, too, that he often travels with U2 on tour, tending to the hundreds of staff and crew members as they are away from homes and families. He likes to arrive at the venues early, as well, to take a prayer walk through the seats and spaces that will be filled later that night with U2′s fans.

Perhaps the last time most of us heard him outside of his church (where he works and speaks from the pulpit when not on tour), was in this now famous “Elevation Tour Blessing” given in Miami on the opening night of U2′s Elevation tour in 2001. Bono introduces him here:

This is a post from the @U2 blog.

Jack Heaslip: U2′s Traveling Pastor Appears By The Sea