U2 is bringing the heavy metal to Soldier Field for its two concerts this weekend.
The Irish quartet will open its North American tour Saturday on a circular stage underneath a 90-foot-tall, four-pronged canopy that suggests an alien invader from “War of the Worlds.” The steel structure took four days to build, and will house not only the band but a 150-foot pylon and a 54-ton cylindrical video screen that should light up the stadium, if not the entire South Side. Sunglasses are optional, apparently.
When the fans aren’t staring at this monstrosity, U2 is expected to occupy their attention for about two hours with 22 to 24 songs spanning its career. Saturday’s show is sold out, tour promoter Live Nation says, but tickets — ranging from $30 to $250 (plus service fees) — are still available for Sunday.
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Steel structure is 90 feet tall
Center pylon reaches 150 feet
Designed to support 180 tons
Cylindrical video screen weighs 54 tons opening to 14,000 square feet (as big as 2 doubles tennis courts)
The video screen is made up of 1 million pieces.
(500,000 pixels, 320,000 fasteners, 30,000 cables, 150,000 machined pieces)
The steel structure takes four days to build.
It takes 12 hours to haul in screen, stage and universal production equipment.
It takes six hours for production to dismantle, and it takes
48 hours to dismantle and load the steel structure out of the stadium.
Designed by Willie Williams (his 10th U2 production)
Architect is Mark Fisher (his 6th U2 production)
Stages built by Belgian company Stageco using high-pressure hydraulic systems
Source: U2
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greg@gregkot.com
Even better than the real thing: For the latest U2 in Chicago coverage, including a video tour of the stage and a post-concert review of Saturday’s performance, visit chicagotribune.com/u2.
