Photo c/o McCloud Communications
Irish mega-band U2 will be sliding into town on Saturday in support of their U2/360 tour. The stage is being erected by hundreds of workers and will take until Saturday to finish. Here are some statistics on “the Claw” from the U2/360 wiki. Almost 60,000 tickets have been sold for the show.
The inspiration for the “spaceship-on-four-legs” design, nicknamed “the Claw”, came from the landmark Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport. The stages are built by the Belgian company Stageco, and construction of each requires the use of high-pressure and innovative hydraulic systems. The steel structure is 164 feet tall – doubling the size of the stadium set for The Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang Tour, the previous highest – can hold up to 200 tonnes underneath it, and requires 120 trucks to transport. Each leg of the structure contains its own sound system. The cost of each structure is between £15 million and £20 million each. Over 250 people are part of the 360° tour crew, with additional staff belonging to the various vendors and contractors involved.Daily costs of the production are approximately $750,000, not including the stage construction; the majority of this comes from truck rentals, transportation, and staff wages. The tour is not expected to break even until the conclusion of the second leg.
Video of the claw:
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