U2 Tour Costs $750K a Day

Bono and the boys talk pop stardom, expansive tour with Rolling Stone
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 30, 2009 11:17 AM CDT
U2 Tour Costs $750K a Day
Lead singer Bono, left, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. of U2 perform with the band during their 360 world tour stop at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

Rolling Stone goes behind the scenes—and tags along in a private jet—for its cover story on the U2360° Tour (aka “the biggest rock tour of all time”), which is comprised of a 170-ton stage carted around by 200 trucks, 250 speakers, almost 400 employees—and $750,000 a day in overhead costs. The band is eager to “engage and try and do something different,” says Edge.

But it’s not all about the tour: Bono also discusses rock stardom in 2009, calling Jay-Z “a pioneer” who is helping to create a “porous culture, where there’s much more crosstown traffic.” He goes on to speculate, “In this age of celebrity and pop stardom, maybe it’s a sensible thing to question the values of being a pop star. Radiohead, Pearl Jam, a lot of people, who maybe had more sense than us, rejected it.” (More U2 stories.)

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