U2 opens roof for Toronto show

By JANE STEVENSON - Sun Media


U2's dazzling stage set-up, dubbed by lead singer Bono as the "spaceship," is already set up at the Rogers Centre for the band's two shows. The stage is pictured here on a previous stop.

U2's "spaceship" has landed.

That would be U2 frontman Bono's nickname for the Irish rock band's current futuristic-looking stage, which will blow the roof off (literally) the Rogers Centre tonight, as the Dublin quartet kicks off the first of two sold-out Toronto shows on their 360 Degree Tour.

"The genesis of the whole thing was to create an in-the-round stadium experience that shrank, in essence, these stadiums and brought people in," said Arthur Fogel in an exclusive Canadian interview with Sun Media. The Toronto ex-pat is the L.A.-based chairman of global music and CEO of global touring at Live Nation.

"Yes, it opens up more capacity but it uniquely makes a stadium much more intimate and inclusive, and it has absolutely achieved that.

"I think anybody who goes to the show is blown away on various levels. Particularly in North America, where we haven't played stadiums since PopMart in '97. That's a long interval, and the last tours being indoors, I think really provided an opportunity for the band to re-introduce themselves as the sort of ultimate stadium spectacle."

The big news for Toronto's 58,000 concert goers tonight and tomorrow is that they'll have the added bonus of having the roof opened for both shows, as long as the pleasant late-summer weather continues. The only other rock show to have the lid open at the Rogers Centre was Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in 2003.


"Well, the plan is to open the roof," Fogel said.

"Due to the good weather and obviously better sound quality -- and this sound system is unbelievable -- it deserves the best possible scenario. Those domed stadiums, the roofs are so high, the sound tends to go up, and kind of swirl around and bounce around, a lot of metal stuff and cement. So it's much better if it's open."

As a result, concert-goers should dress appropriately for a night of music outside.

U2 arrived in Toronto on Sunday night after playing two shows in Chicago at Soldier Field to kick off the North American portion of their 2009 tour, which began June 30 in Barcelona.

Bono and guitarist The Edge, were spotted on the TIFF red carpet Monday outside The Winter Garden for the Irish film, Ondine, starring Colin Farrell.

Fogel said he didn't expect the band to be doing any real rehearsing while they're in Toronto, as the show is pretty much set at the two-hour-and-15-minute mark.

The set list includes about a half dozen songs from their latest album, No Line On The Horizon, co-produced by Canadian Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and changes only slightly in cities where they are playing more than one show.

"They're playing really well and they're really confident," Fogel said. "And it's fun. Bono's an amazing frontman and he's got an amazing way of interacting with the audience and saying all of the right things.

"I know people get bored sometimes with the whole thing -- (some) people go, 'He's full of himself, he's trying to do too many things,' or 'He thinks of himself as the saviour of the world.'

"But the reality is much of what he says is pretty spot-on and he does a lot of amazing things around the world.

"And he's got a great sense of humour, he's very down to earth. But he's got a very serious mission side of him which is very commendable"
jam.canoe