U2 Created Biggest Show in History of Music as a Way to Achieve Intimacy

Now that Bono is back in rock star shape, following emergency back surgery last year, U2's 360 Tour is in full swing and, in fact, on its final leg. Pretty soon it will be gone -- but definitely not forgotten. And not just because you read on Facebook that your old roommate went and had "a moment" during 'Beautiful Day' -- it's an unforgettable tour for the music industry as well as for all the fans that get to experience the Claw firsthand. The Claw is the name of the stage, by the way. Yes, the stage is so big that it really does justify having its own name -- and there are actually three Claws in all. That's because the staging takes over each stadium for nearly a week per show, including a four-day assembly period. And you thought that the dresser you bought from IKEA was tough to pop together.

"The U2 360 Tour is the largest show to ever tour in the history of rock 'n' roll," production director Jake Berry tells Spinner, on the field at Oakland's newly renamed Overstock.com Stadium, where the Raiders (NFL) and the Athletics (MLB) both play. On Tuesday night, the game will belong solely to U2. And even though they may be the visitors here, they'll be playing for the home team.

"They were very insistent that it had to be intimate," Berry explains, in talking about the tour's over-the-top production. "So the whole feeling is that if you build a big structure such as this, you kinda make the stadium look a little smaller and, therefore, it feels more intimate ... The bigger the stage, the smaller the stadium, the more intimate -- that's the plan. And it works."

Case in point -- in an era when the concert industry is perpetually struggling, U2's 360 tour has had no problem selling 65,000 seats -- at a variety of price brackets -- in every market. In Oakland, where the tour has temporarily taken up residence, Tuesday's show was already considered a sell-out. But, after assembling the stage and realizing its actual dimensions within the particular stadium, around 1,000 additional seats were able to be released for sale in the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday night's performance.

"As of 12 shows ago, it became the largest tour of all time," the tour director, Craig Evans, tells Spinner. "We still have 16 more shows to go, so it's certainly just going to pad that lead and it's going to set standards that are going to be a long, long time in the keeping. We always talk about the size of it, but it was an ambitious undertaking to say, 'We're going to play 360 degrees in a stadium' as opposed to the standard of 180 degrees. It means you have to sell 25,000 more seats behind the stage to really fill it up and make the economics work... It's been a massive success."

A quick look at the tour by the numbers: there are 235 touring personnel but double that when you include the drivers. The tour employs more than 1,500 local workers as well. The video screen is 54 tons and, when fully expanded, shoots 87 feet up from the stage -- it's the largest touring screen ever. As mentioned, there are three Claws in service and each one takes 38 trucks to carry. The tour takes its own custom flooring system so as not to ruin the baseball, football and soccer fields that it takes over -- that's another 14 trucks. And then there are 132 people on board just for production, with their own 47 designated trucks. In fact, in Oakland, the production is so massive that the crew has also taken over the adjacent arena, utilizing the facility for dressing rooms, hospitality and make-shift work-stations.

Each leg of the Claw supports 125 tons. The staging -- including sound system, lighting and video screens -- weighs in at around 300 tons. "If you want to know what that's like compared to another tour," says Berry, "if you're like a Madonna or the Rolling Stones, you would be around about 100."

Asked what the Claw itself does, exactly, Berry replies: "Well, it looks good, doesn't it?" Which brings us to this: despite such an enormous stage set, U2's 360 tour is surprisingly devoid of props. Okay, so the entire thing is one giant prop and the band even has an outer runway stage that circles the main platform, to play with. And that's cool and all. But the stage itself is devoid of most everything else except the musicians and their equipment. Which means when they power the Claw up on Tuesday night, it has to be the band, themselves, that provide all the entertainment and that, in essence, create the actual magic.

Of course, given their support system, that shouldn't really be a problem. But, you know -- no pressure or anything.