U2... back to the 3
THE inside story .... The Irish Daily Mail can confirm that U2 will not be playing an outdoor gig at Slane this year, but will instead be playing a number of nights inside – at the 3Arena to be precise.
The Mail can reveal that Live Nation and the millionaire rockers have block-booked ’a number of nights’ as part of their Songs of Experience Tour at the Dublin venue in October.
This will put paid to the rumours that the band was considering playing an outdoor show in Slane this summer. According to a venue insider, the show will mirror the Songs of Innocence structure, providing the audience with an extremely intimate show on a custom-built stage.
This will create a much different experience for the fans of the band who were at last July’s sell-out show in Croke Park.
‘Ireland is home for U2 so they will always bring their tour to Ireland,’ the venue insider said.
‘There will be a number of Dublin shows that will depend on demand. The band will undoubtedly adapt and tailor their rig to fit the 3Arena, as the current show is being devised for bigger American and European indoor venues. But anyone who was lucky enough to attend the Songs of Innocence tour will know that it is possibly the most up-close-and-personal show you will get with the biggest rock band in the world.’
U2 will kick off their schedule in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 2 at the BOK Centre, which has a capacity of 19,000. Unlike their last tour, The Joshua Tree, during which they played to huge stadium audiences around the world, this time they have pared things back.
The One stars last performed at the docklands venue to rave reviews in 2015, playing four sellout shows, so performing there again would see the Songs Of Experience tour coming full circle. The album, Songs of Experience scored a No.1 hit for the group in the American Billboard charts.
Recorded in Dublin, London and LA, the result is a series of songs in the form of letters to people and places that are close to Bono’s heart.
Speaking to the Mail last November, The Edge confirmed that the band’s engineers were working a way of bringing their tour to the 3Arena. ‘We are going to be coming home’, Edge said. ‘We are looking at different venue options. The production is kind of big, so we are weighing up all our options there, but you will be seeing us in Ireland.
‘We are starting the tour indoors and that does restrict us, but who knows?
‘We could take it outdoors at some point and that would open other doors for us and that would be fantastic.’
‘Extremely intimate show’ Pared back for the home game