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Johannesburg.
IT might seem ridiculous for a four-man rock band to need 5 900 staff for a two-date tour, but rock royalty U2’s juggernaut is not just any normal series of concerts
On February 13 at the FNB Stadium in Soweto Bono and his band will play in front of “probably the biggest crowd they’ve played to” — 110 000 people.
Promoter Penny Stein also said only 2 000 tickets were still available for the Johannesburg concert, which forms part of the Irish band’s 360 degree World Tour.
The 70 000 tickets for the February 18 concert in Cape Town were sold out within a week in October.
The idea of a 360-degree stage came from a model built with dinner forks during the band’s 2006 Vertigo Tour. The shows will have the largest revolving concert stage structure ever, allowing the audience to surround it and get a good view from all sides. Stein said 200 containers carrying equipment had already arrived.
“This is a massive set and rig. It is a total of 300 international and local staff,   2 600 security guards, 1 000 bar staff and 2 000 other support staff for four people on stage,” she said.
The band will arrive this week “at various times” as they will be taking different flights. Stein added: “At this stage we don’t know their plans, but they are in the country for a while, so we are sure they will be doing some interesting stuff.” — Sowetan.