U2 - No Money on the Horizon (The Wrap)

I missed this story in the Wrap last week about the U2 Claw tour, but maybe you didn't. If so, then mister, you're a better man that I.

Author of the piece Steve Pond writes: "When U2 takes the stage of the Rose Bowl on Sunday night, the Irish band will have performed 42 shows on its "360°" tour. They will have played in front of almost 3 million fans, broken dozens of attendance records and grossed close to $300 million. They will have drawn rapturous reviews, made the cover of Rolling Stone and given the troubled concert business a gigantic shot of adrenaline.

What they won’t have done is make any money.

The U2 tour is so elaborate, its 170-ton, $40 million, four-pronged stage so enormous, its overhead so costly that the band has been on the road for four months just to cover its startup costs. They’re finally on the verge of hitting the break-even mark -- just in time to shut down for the winter, because the weather’s getting too cold for outdoor shows and their stage is far too big for indoor arenas.".

[And to make matters worse...]

"The album’s first two singles weren’t hits, its songs aren’t getting the radio airplay of past smashes like “Vertigo” and “Elevation,” and overall sales have been slow. Released in March, it took seven months to reach sales of 1 million, a significant disappointment by usual U2 standards."

Watch the US Rose Bowl entire 2hour, 21 minute concert at YouTube. Or the 25 year old video of theband making The Unforgettable Fire.