No Line on the Horizon is the twelfth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lillywhite, and was launched on 27 February 2009. It was the band’s first report since How one can Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), marking the longest hole between studio albums of their profession to that time. The band initially supposed to launch the songs as two EPs, however later mixed the fabric right into a single report. Photographer Anton Corbijn shot a companion movie, Linear, which was launched alongside the album and included with a number of particular editions.
U2 started work on the album in 2006 with report producer Rick Rubin however shelved many of the materials from these periods. In Could 2007, the group started new periods with Eno and Lanois in Fez, Morocco. Intending to jot down “future hymns”—songs that might be performed perpetually—the group spent two weeks recording in a riad and concerned the producers within the songwriting course of. Having grown uninterested in writing within the first-person, lead singer Bono wrote his lyrics from the attitude of various characters. Recording continued at a number of studios in the USA, United Kingdom, and Eire by December 2008. The group had supposed to launch No Line on the Horizon in November, however after composing 50 to 60 songs, they delayed the discharge to proceed writing.
Previous to the album’s launch, U2 claimed that their time in Fez, in addition to Eno’s and Lanois’ involvement, had resulted in a extra experimental report than their earlier two albums. The band in contrast the shift in fashion to that seen between The Joshua Tree (1987) and Achtung Child (1991). Upon its launch, No Line on the Horizon acquired usually beneficial critiques, though many critics famous that it was not as experimental as beforehand prompt. The album debuted at primary in 30 international locations however didn’t promote in addition to anticipated; the band expressed disappointment over the comparatively low gross sales, in comparison with earlier albums, of 5 million copies. Against this, the supporting U2 360° Tour from 2009 to 2011 broke the report for the highest-grossing live performance tour in historical past, incomes over $736 million.
Recording and manufacturing
Aborted periods with Rick Rubin
In 2006, U2 began work on the follow-up to How one can Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), collaborating with producer Rick Rubin.[1] After U2 guitarist the Edge labored individually with Rubin in Los Angeles,[2] the group spent two weeks in September 2006 finishing songs with the producer at Abbey Street Studios in London.[3] Later that yr, the band launched two songs from these periods on the compilation album U218 Singles: a canopy of the Skids’ “The Saints Are Coming” with Inexperienced Day, and “Window within the Skies”.[2][4] In January 2007, lead singer Bono mentioned U2 supposed to take their subsequent album in a unique musical path from their previous couple of releases. He mentioned: “We’re gonna proceed to be a band, however possibly the rock should go; possibly the rock has to get rather a lot more durable. However no matter it’s, it isn’t gonna keep the place it’s.”[5]
Rubin inspired a “again to fundamentals” method and wished the group to deliver completed songs to the studio. This method conflicted with U2’s freeform recording fashion, by which they improvised materials within the studio.[4] The Edge mentioned: “we type of hadn’t actually completed the songs. It is typical for us, as a result of it is within the technique of recording that we actually do our writing.”[6] Bassist Adam Clayton mentioned: “as soon as we’ve a tune, we’re within the atmospherics and the tones and the overdubs and the totally different stuff you are able to do with it… issues that Rick was not within the slightest bit desirous about. He was desirous about getting it from embryonic stage to a tune that may very well be blended and placed on a report.”[6] They in the end determined to shelve the fabric recorded with Rubin,[4] however expressed curiosity in revisiting it sooner or later.[6] Rubin mentioned: “I do not know what their perspective was. I believed we had enjoyable.”[7]
Periods with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lillywhite
For 2 weeks from Could–June 2007, U2, Eno, and Lanois wrote and recorded music in a Moroccan Riad just like the one pictured.
U2 subsequently started working with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in Could 2007.[8] Bono, who had accepted an invite to the World Sacred Music Pageant in Fez, Morocco, invited his bandmates to attend.[2][9] Bono additionally invited Eno and Lanois, hoping they’d collaborate with the band as full songwriting companions in recording an album of “futuristic spirituals” or “future hymns”—songs that might be performed perpetually.[9][10] For 2 weeks, U2, Eno, and Lanois rented the riad of the resort Riad El Yacout in Fez and turned it right into a makeshift recording studio, often recording with an oud participant and native percussionists.[8][11][12][13]
Recording throughout the competition uncovered the group to Hindu and Jewish music, Sufi singing and Joujouka drums. The unique influences impressed them to pursue a extra experimental sound.[9][12][14] Clayton mentioned the music they heard in Fez “had a primitivism … however there was an other-worldly really feel, there was that reference to that Arabic scale.”[9] Eno insisted that drummer Larry Mullen Jr. use an digital drum equipment.[10] The band described most of the tracks conceived in these periods as unsuitable for radio airplay or for taking part in stay.[9] The open-air riad allowed the group to listen to birdsong, as captured within the introduction to “Unknown Caller”.[15] The songs “Second of Give up”, “White as Snow”, “No Line on the Horizon” and “Unknown Caller” have been written at the moment; every observe was recorded in a single take.[13] In complete, the band recorded roughly 10 songs throughout the two weeks.[8] The Edge mentioned of their time with Eno and Lanois in Fez, “it grew to become very clear nearly instantly that this was gonna be a really fruitful experiment.” He known as it “a really liberating expertise” that “reminded [him] in some ways of early on and why [they] received right into a band within the first place. Simply that pleasure of enjoying.”[2] When the subject of who would produce the report was broached, Lanois prompt, “[the album is] sort of producing itself, so let’s simply go along with the folks we’ve”, cementing him and Eno within the roles.[10]
“… none of that [experimental music] actually appeared on the report … as a result of it sounded sort of artificial. It sounded sort of like ‘world music’ add-on. I am positive it could have gotten a number of folks saying, oh, how fascinating, they’ve damaged out into North African music, however truly it simply did not sound convincing. We have been very impressed by the music whereas we have been there, however there was no lifelike or emotionally satisfying approach of marrying it utilizing the music that we have been doing, so in the long run not very a lot of it in any respect confirmed by.”
—Brian Eno[16]
After leaving Fez, the band recorded in Hanover Quay Studios in Dublin, Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York Metropolis, and Olympic Studios in London.[12][17][18] Steve Lillywhite was introduced in to provide a number of tracks throughout these subsequent periods. In pre-release interviews, U2 in contrast the extent of their anticipated shift in musical fashion to that of Achtung Child.[10][19] The band scaled again these experimental pursuits, nonetheless; Mullen famous: “at a sure stage, actuality hits, and also you go, ‘What are we gonna do with these things?’ Are we going to launch this type of meandering experimentation, or are we gonna knock some songs out of this?”[9] Bono shared this opinion, stating, “We went to this point out on the Sufi singing and the type of ecstatic-music entrance, that we needed to floor it and discover a counterpoint.”[9] Eno commented that a lot of “the extra contemplative and sonically adventurous songs” had been dropped, attributing the dearth of African-inspired music to its sounding “artificial” and unconvincing when paired with different songs.[4][16][20][21]
Clayton filmed the band’s progress throughout the album’s manufacturing; these movies have been added to the subscribers’ part of U2.com.[22] On 16 August 2008, an eavesdropping fan recorded a number of songs enjoying from Bono’s seaside home in Èze, France. These “seaside clips” have been uploaded to YouTube, however eliminated at Common Music’s request.[23] In November 2008, the Edge confirmed the album’s working title as No Line on the Horizon and famous that the band needed to transfer shortly to finish mixing to fulfill the brand new February launch date.[24] In an interview with Q, the group revealed that rapper will.i.am had labored with them on the observe “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight”.[25]
In December 2008, U2 recorded at Olympic Studios in London, placing the ending touches to the album[12] and making a number of modifications to its content material. The group had deliberate to launch the fabric as two prolonged performs, titled Daylight and Darkness, however throughout these periods determined to compile the very best songs onto one album.[26] The band struggled to finish “Stand Up Comedy”, a tune they’d been engaged on because the Fez periods 16 months beforehand. The tune had been by a number of iterations and titles, together with “For Your Love” and “Stand Up”.[12] U2 dropped “Winter”, a tune Eno had urged them to finish, in addition to “Each Breaking Wave”, which they eliminated to cut back the album’s operating time.[9][27] “Winter” seems within the accompanying Anton Corbijn movie Linear and the 2009 warfare movie Brothers.[28][29] Each songs had been talked about in pre-release album critiques.[12][25][30]
The band modified most of the tracks’ names throughout recording, retitling “French Disco” to “Magnificent” and “Loopy Tonight” to “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight”. “Chromium Chords” grew to become “Tripoli”, and eventually “Fez – Being Born”.[12][31][32] The band thought-about “Fez – Being Born” and “Get On Your Boots” as album openers, however in the end selected “No Line on the Horizon”.[31][33] On the finish of the periods, the band selected to incorporate “White as Snow”, a quiet tune a couple of dying soldier in Afghanistan, to steadiness out the sooner, rockier tunes.[27] Excluding this observe, U2 had tried to maintain the theme of warfare out of the album.[34] In early December 2008, Clayton acknowledged, “that is undoubtedly the final week of recording. However then once more, final week was undoubtedly the final week of recording, and the week earlier than that.”[12] The ultimate periods ended later that month.[21] No Line on the Horizon is devoted to Rob Partridge, who signed the band’s first report deal in 1980 and died of most cancers in late 2008.[34][35]
Observe-up album
In February 2009, Bono acknowledged that by the tip of the yr, U2 would launch an album consisting of unused materials from the No Line on the Horizon periods. Bono labelled it “a extra meditative album on the theme of pilgrimage”.[12] Provisionally titled Songs of Ascent, it could be a sister launch to No Line on the Horizon, just like Zooropa‘s relationship to Achtung Child.[36] In June 2009, Bono mentioned that though 9 tracks had been accomplished, the album would solely be launched if its high quality surpassed that of No Line on the Horizon.[37] A December 2009 report acknowledged that U2 had been working within the studio with the objective of a mid-2010 launch.[38] The band revealed that the primary single was supposed to be “Each Breaking Wave”.[36][39]
Over time, the album continued to be delayed. In April 2010, U2’s supervisor Paul McGuinness confirmed that the album wouldn’t be completed by June, however indicated {that a} launch “earlier than the tip of the yr [was] more and more probably.”[40] In October 2010, Bono acknowledged that their new album can be produced by Hazard Mouse, and that 12 songs had been accomplished. He additionally famous that U2 have been engaged on a possible album of membership music within the spirit of “U2’s remixes within the Nineties”.[41] Across the identical time, McGuinness mentioned the album was slated for an early 2011 launch.[42][43] In February 2011, he mentioned that the album was nearly full and had a tentative launch date of Could 2011, though he famous that Songs of Ascent was not the probably title.[44] The Songs of Ascent undertaking in the end didn’t come to fruition and has not been launched; its evolution and obvious abandonment are examined within the ebook The Best Albums You will By no means Hear.[45] Clayton mentioned, “We thought there was extra materials left over from No Line… we now really feel a good distance from that materials.”[46]
After quite a few delays, U2 digitally launched their thirteenth album, Songs of Innocence, on 9 September 2014 in a shock launch. The band appeared the identical day at an Apple Inc. product launch occasion to announce the album and reveal it was being launched to all iTunes Retailer clients without charge.[47]
In October 2014, Bono mentioned that Songs of Ascent “will come” and that the group views it because the third launch in a potential trilogy of albums.[48]
Composition
“… it is a very private album. These are very private tales regardless that they’re written in character and, in a approach, they could not be farther from my very own politics. However, within the sense of the peripheral imaginative and prescient, there is a world on the market. Because the outdated blues tune goes, a world gone mistaken. You’ll be able to really feel it simply on the edges—the warfare in Iraq, the darkish clouds on the horizon. However there may be additionally a deliberate shutting out of that with a view to give attention to extra private epiphanies.”
—Bono[12]
Through the Hanover Quay periods in 2008, Bono indicated that he had change into “uninterested in [writing in] the first-person”, main him to jot down songs from the attitude of various characters. He invented “a site visitors cop, a junkie [and] a soldier serving in Afghanistan.”[12] Though every character tells a private story, the underlying theme of the album is peripheral imaginative and prescient, occasions happening within the wider world, “simply on the edges”.[12] Bono described it as “central to the understanding of this album”.[12] Nonetheless, because the characters narrate there may be an intentional “shutting out” of the broader world, in order that the main target stays on their “private epiphanies”. The narrative the group initially deliberate for the album was damaged up within the periods’ last weeks with their modifications to the observe itemizing.[12] Bono revealed that numbers have been important in most of the songs,[49] and that the album was break up into thirds; he described the primary part as “a complete world unto itself, and also you get to a really ecstatic place”, and the second as “a load of singles”. The ultimate third consists of songs which might be “uncommon territory” for the band.[50]
“No Line on the Horizon” stemmed from Mullen’s experiments with totally different drum beats; Eno sampled and manipulated the patterns, and the remainder of the band started to play over the beats. The lyrical concept of a spot “the place the ocean meets the sky and you may’t inform the distinction between the 2” and the vocal supply have been each current from the beginning.[10] Bono famous that the theme behind the tune was infinity, and that the observe was inherently optimistic.[12] “Magnificent” is an up-tempo tune that begins with a synthesiser line by Eno. The band wished a observe that felt euphoric, and the melody, created from a sequence of chord modifications throughout a jam, was labored on constantly by Bono.[10][34] The setting within the lyrics was described by Lanois as “New York within the 50s”, written from the attitude of “a Charlie Parker sort of determine”.[10] The tune has been described as “echo[ing] The Unforgettable Fireplace‘s opening observe ‘A Type of Homecoming’ in its atmospheric sweep”.[25]
The drug addict character seems within the songs “Second of Give up” and “Unknown Caller”. “Second of Give up”, improvised and recorded by U2, Eno, and Lanois in a single take, demonstrates gospel influences. Eno and Lanois mentioned the tune is the closest to the group’s authentic idea for an album of future hymns.[9] Eno famous, “Aside from some modifying and the addition of the brief cello piece that introduces it, the tune seems on the album precisely because it was the primary and solely time we performed it.”[12] Within the tune, the addict is having a disaster of religion. In “Unknown Caller”, the character is suicidal and, whereas utilizing his cellphone to purchase medication, begins receiving cryptic textual content messages with technology-inspired instructions.[34] The observe was developed early within the Fez periods. The guitar solo on the tune’s conclusion was taken from the backing observe.[10]
Eno developed “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight” throughout the Fez periods, underneath the working title “Diorama”.[10] U2 reworked it with Steve Lillywhite throughout a break from recording with Eno and Lanois.[10] Among the lyrics have been influenced by Barack Obama’s presidential marketing campaign, whereas others referenced Bono.[12] Album critiques described the tune as a joyous pop rock composition. “Get On Your Boots” stemmed from a guitar riff The Edge created and recorded at his residence.[10] At 150 beats per minute, the tune is among the quickest the band have recorded.[21] Rolling Stone known as it a “blazing, fuzzed-out rocker that picks up the place ‘Vertigo’ left off.”[30] Thematically, the tune is about Bono taking his household on trip to France and witnessing warplanes flying overhead initially of the Iraq Struggle.[4] The mantra “let me within the sound” was developed late within the recording periods and have become a motif all through elements of the album.[10]
“Stand Up Comedy” went by quite a few iterations; at one level, Lanois famous, “that tune was about six totally different songs”.[10] In its authentic idea, the observe featured mandolins enjoying in a Center Jap beat. The riff was altered and a refrain of “to your love” was launched. This model was discarded because the band got here up with a brand new riff and lyrics, solely retaining the “to your love” vocal.[9] U2 preferred the outcome on the finish of the periods, however felt that the tune would seem too “crafted”; they as an alternative selected an older combine for inclusion on the album.[10] A number of of the tune’s lyrics, together with the road, “Watch out of small males with massive concepts”, relate to Bono’s self-mockery.[12] The guitar sound from the experimental “Fez” portion of “Fez – Being Born” was developed whereas the band recorded “The Saints Are Coming” throughout the Rick Rubin periods.[34] Lanois edited the half, including a beat developed by Eno, earlier than enjoying it for the group. The sounds of a Moroccan market have been additionally added. The quicker part of the tune, “Being Born”, was altered into the identical key as “Fez” and Lanois positioned the 2 sections collectively, creating the one tune.[10] The “let me within the sound” chant from “Get On Your Boots” is included at first of the observe.[34]
“White as Snow” focuses on the soldier character’s final ideas as he dies from the injuries suffered from an improvised explosive gadget.[4] The tune is predicated on the normal hymn “Veni, veni, Emmanuel”; the thought to base the tune on a public area melody was prompt to Lanois by Newfoundland musician Lori Anna Reid.[4] “Breathe” is ready on 16 June, an intentional reference to James Joyce’s novel Ulysses.[9] U2 labored on an earlier model of the tune for a very long time earlier than they scrapped it and re-recorded it with Lillywhite.[10] Two units of lyrics have been additionally current; one about Nelson Mandela, and the opposite “extra surreal and private”.[9] The band determined to make use of the latter.[9] “Cedars of Lebanon”, written from the attitude of a journalist masking a warfare abroad, was created in the same method to “Fez – Being Born”. The tune’s melody was based mostly on a pattern of “In opposition to the Sky”, a observe Eno and Lanois had collaborated on with Harold Budd for the 1984 album The Pearl; the group famous that the atmosphere of the tune was “like a direct throwback to the early 80s”.[10][34] The ultimate verse is a condemnation of the Iraq Struggle.[9]
Promotion and singles
A road signal studying “U2 Method” was added to 53rd Avenue in Manhattan throughout the album’s promotion.
To advertise No Line on the Horizon, U2 carried out “Get On Your Boots” on the 51st Grammy Awards, the 2009 BRIT Awards, and the 2009 Echo Awards, though the album was not eligible for awards at any of the ceremonies.[4][68][69] The band later appeared on French tv and radio on 23 February 2009, and on 26 February they taped a phase for Friday Evening with Jonathan Ross, which was aired the subsequent day.[31][70][71] On 27 February, U2 made an look on a Stay Lounge session for BBC Radio 1, adopted by a mini-concert on the roof of Broadcasting Home.[72][73] On the week of two March 2009, U2 appeared on CBS-TV’s Late Present with David Letterman for 5 consecutive nights, the primary time a musical visitor had carried out for a whole week on the present.[55] The group carried out “Breathe”, “Magnificent”, “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight”, “Stunning Day”, and “Get On Your Boots”. On 3 March, Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York Metropolis, added a road signal studying “U2 Method” at 53rd Avenue in Manhattan, for the week that U2 carried out on the Late Present.[74] U2 additionally carried out at Fordham College on 6 March 2009 for an look on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America.[75] From 9 to 11 March, the band participated in “U2 3 Nights Stay”, a sequence of radio interviews and performances that have been broadcast throughout North America and streamed stay on U2.com.[76]
From 11 to 17 February 2009, U2.com hosted a promotion the place 4,000 followers may win a 7-inch single collector’s version field set that contained all 4 of the singles launched from No Line on the Horizon.[77] An alternate model of the title observe, “No Line on the Horizon 2”, debuted on RTÉ 2XM on 12 February 2009; it was later used because the B-side for the primary single, “Get On Your Boots”.[78] The complete album started streaming on the group’s MySpace web page on 20 February 2009, and on U2.com a number of days later.[52]
4 singles have been deliberate from the album,[77] though solely three have been launched. The primary single, “Get On Your Boots”, was launched as a digital obtain on 19 January 2009, and in a bodily format on 16 February 2009.[61][79] The iTunes retailer held the unique digital obtain rights to the one for the primary 24 hours.[61] The second single, “Magnificent”, was launched on 4 Could 2009.[80] The third single, “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight”, was launched on 7 September 2009.[81]
Vital reception
| Combination scores | |
|---|---|
| Supply | Ranking |
| Metacritic | 72/100[82] |
| Assessment scores | |
| Supply | Ranking |
| AllMusic |   [83] |
| Blender | [84] |
| Mojo | [85] |
| NME | 7/10[20] |
| Pitchfork | 4.2/10[86] |
| Q | [87] |
| Rolling Stone | [88] |
| RTÉ | [89] |
| Time Out Sydney | [90] |
| Toronto Star | [91] |
No Line on the Horizon acquired usually beneficial critiques. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted common ranking out of 100 to critiques from mainstream critics, the album acquired a mean rating of 72, based mostly on 30 critiques.[82] David Fricke of Rolling Stone gave it a five-star rating and known as it “[U2’s] greatest, in its textural exploration and tenacious melodic grip, since 1991’s Achtung Child.”[88] In his evaluate for Blender, Rob Sheffield acknowledged “The times are gone when U2 have been making an attempt to maintain it easy—at this level, the lads have realized that over-the-top romantic grandiosity is the fashion that fits them, so they arrive on just like the cosmic guitar supplicants they have been born to be.”[84] Uncut journal’s Andrew Mueller commented, “It is U2’s least fast album—however there’s one thing about it that means it could be considered one of their most enduring.”[92] Jeff Jensen of Leisure Weekly graded it an “A−” and known as the album “an eclectic and electrifying winner, one which speaks to the zeitgeist the best way solely U2 can and dare to do.”[93] BBC Music reviewer Chris Jones mentioned, “There’s loads to rejoice about right here” whereas noting that the “symbiotic relationship with Brian Eno (and Daniel Lanois) appears to have reached the purpose of imperceptibility.”[94] NME contributor Ben Patashnik known as the album “a grand, sweeping, courageous report that, whereas not fairly the reinvention they pegged it as, suggests they have the chops to retain their relevance properly into their fourth decade as a band.”[20]
In a much less enthusiastic evaluate, Time Out Sydney felt that the album is sadly Brian Eno’s new album fairly than U2’s: “for all that is new, there isn’t any approach that you will mistake it for an additional band.”[90] Pitchfork reviewer Ryan Dombal gave a rating of 4.2 out of 10, stating, “the album’s ballyhooed experimentation is both terribly misguided or hidden beneath a wash of shameless U2-isms.”[86] Cameron Adams of the Herald Solar gave a ranking of three and a half stars, evaluating it to the Nineties albums Zooropa, Pop, and Unique Soundtracks 1 whereas stating “That is no blockbuster … It is the least fast U2 album in years, however one which diehard followers will take pleasure in dwelling with”.[95] Madeleine Chong of MTV Asia wrote that, “Though U2 ought to be lauded for his or her efforts at fixed reinvention and pushing the envelope within the rock style, [No Line on the Horizon] possesses neither the long-lasting qualities of The Joshua Tree or the unconventional but related magnetism of Achtung Child.”[96] Toronto Star music critic Ben Rayner known as the songs boring, including that the atmosphere launched by Eno and Lanois was “usually all these imprecise, hook-deficient songs have going for them.”[91] Rob Harvilla of The Village Voice gave the album a blended evaluate and wrote that its songs “will remind you of different, significantly better songs, however in a approach that solely makes you wish to go and take heed to these different songs as an alternative.”[97] Josh Tyrangiel of Time journal additionally gave it an unfavourable evaluate, calling the trouble “unhappy” and “principally stressed, tentative and confused.”[98]
Accolades
No Line on the Horizon was nominated within the Greatest Rock Album class on the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010.[99] The tune “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight” was nominated for Greatest Rock Efficiency by a Duo or Group With Vocals and Greatest Rock Track.[99] The reduce tune “Winter” was nominated for Greatest Unique Track on the 67th Golden Globe Awards for its function within the movie Brothers.[29] Rolling Stone ranked No Line on the Horizon the very best album of the yr and the Thirty sixth-best album of the last decade, and “Second of Give up” as the very best tune of the yr and the Thirty sixth-best tune of the last decade.[100] The Irish Unbiased positioned it fourth on their listing of the yr’s prime Irish albums, whereas Time listed the tune “No Line on the Horizon” because the third-best of 2009.[101][102]
U2 360° Tour
The U2 360° Tour featured the biggest live performance stage ever constructed.
Following the discharge of No Line on the Horizon, U2 staged a worldwide stadium tour, titled the U2 360° Tour. Starting on 30 June 2009 in Barcelona, the tour visited Europe, North America, Oceania, Africa and South America from 2009 to 2011 and comprised 110 reveals.[114][115][116] The live shows featured a 360-degree stage that the viewers surrounded.[117] To accommodate this, a big four-legged construction nicknamed “The Claw” was constructed above the stage. At 50 meters (165 ft) tall, it was the biggest stage ever constructed and twice the dimensions of the earlier largest set, which was used on The Rolling Stones’ A Larger Bang Tour.[118] The thought for the stage had been proposed to the group by the set designer Willie Williams on the finish of the Vertigo Tour in 2006.[118] The design was supposed to beat the staid conventional look of out of doors live shows the place the stage was dominated by speaker stacks on both aspect.[119] Regardless of grossing over US$311 million from 44 reveals over its first two legs,[120] the tour was barely breaking even,[121] with manufacturing prices of roughly US$750,000 per day.[122] In 2010, U2’s scheduled headline look on the Glastonbury Pageant 2010 and their North American leg have been postponed till the next yr after Bono suffered a critical again damage.[123][124][125] By its conclusion in July 2011, U2 360° had set information for the highest-grossing live performance tour with $736 million in ticket gross sales, and for the highest-attended tour with 7.3 million tickets bought.[126]
Through the first leg of the tour in Europe, the band sometimes performed songs from No Line on the Horizon early within the set. “Breathe”, “No Line on the Horizon”, “Get On Your Boots” and “Magnificent” have been performed because the opening quartet, whereas “Unknown Caller” and a remixed association of “I will Go Loopy If I Do not Go Loopy Tonight” appeared near the midway level. “Second of Give up” closed each present.[127] U2 made minor modifications to the setlists for the second leg of the tour. “No Line on the Horizon” was carried out later within the live shows, whereas “Unknown Caller” was dropped for a number of weeks earlier than being revived in the direction of the tip of the leg. The band didn’t play “Stand Up Comedy”, “Fez – Being Born”, “White as Snow”, or “Cedars of Lebanon” at any level in 2009.[127] The 25 October 2009 live performance on the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, U2’s penultimate live performance of 2009,[127] was filmed and streamed stay over YouTube.[128] The shoot used 27 excessive definition cameras; the live performance was launched on DVD and Blu-ray as U2 360° on the Rose Bowl on 3 June 2010.[129]
