U2 adds second night at Angel Stadium

U2 has added a second night to its return to Southern California in 2010. With the act's June 6 gig at Angel Stadium now sold out, according to promoter Live Nation, U2 has extended its stay in Anaheim and will perform June 7 as well. Tickets, ranging from $30 to $250, not including surcharges, officially go on sale to the general public on Nov. 20, but head to U2's official website for a myriad of pre-sale information.

-- A Pop & Hiss public service announcement

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PHOTOS: U2's 360 Tour: Live at the Rose Bowl

Amid the rattle and hum before U2's Rose Bowl show

The masses descend upon Pasadena for U2's Rose Bowl gig

Making the U2 set so big that it's invisible

Photo: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Bono and the Edge discuss the Spider-Man musical that may or may not happen

Friday's Los Angeles Times features a report on the efforts to bring Marvel's Spider-Man to the stage, which has "turned into a tangled web of production delays, unpaid bills and costly theater renovations that even Peter Parker's alter ego would struggle to escape," according to John Horn's piece.

Based on interviews with a half dozen people close to the show, Horn writes that the budget for the musical has rocketed past $52 million in its six years of development. Music duties for the production are being handled by U2's lead singer, Bono, and the group's guitarist, the Edge. Bono, writes Horn, is a bit bewildered by the show's odyssey. "But who cares?" Bono said. "The visuals and the music are amazing, and that's what will matter."

Horn also provides some insight into the music of the production. An excerpt:

'It Might Get Loud' director Davis Guggenheim stands behind digital distribution

 
Director Davis Guggenheim tracked three generations of guitar virtuosos in his "It Might Get Loud," focusing on the philosophies behind the sounds of Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White. Sound in the film is paramount.

Yet when "It Might Get Loud" is released on home video, it won't be with a giant Blu-ray or HD push that advertises the latest in high fidelity. Instead, the film will be distributed digitally by Apple's iTunes store, which will sell "It Might Get Loud" exclusively from Dec. 8 through Dec. 22.

"I used to think that the quality of downloading music on iTunes was a barrier for me," Guggenheim said. "I just didn’t think it would be good enough. But in the last year, I’ve put 75 movies on my laptop … There are some movies you need to see in a theater or see on Blu-ray. I think for some fans that’s important. I think some people will need to see this on Blu-ray, but some will need to see it on a Tuesday night at 11 p.m. on iTunes. I don’t think it’s an either/or thing." 

U2's Anaheim presales begin Tuesday; tickets to general public available next week

 
When U2 returns to Southern California on June 6, it will be a downright intimate affair compared to the band's recent stop at Pasadena's Rose Bowl. Tickets for the band's appearance at Angel Stadium in Anaheim will go on sale to the general public Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.

There will, however, be a myriad of presales, some of which began as early as Tuesday (Nov. 3). The massive U2 FAQ breaks down the various presale subscriber groups. Tickets, not including service charges, will range from $30 to $250.

With a concert capacity closer to the 60,000-range, Angel Stadium will be about as small a venue as U2 plays these days. The band's recent Pasadena appearance packed in more than 100,000 people, including Rose Bowl workers and concert staff. On the fence about dropping the cash? Read the Los Angeles Times review. 

-- Todd Martens

RELATED:

PHOTOS: U2's 360 Tour: Live at the Rose Bowl

Amid the rattle and hum before U2's Rose Bowl show

The masses descend upon Pasadena for U2's Rose Bowl gig

Making the U2 set so big that it's invisible

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: U2 360 tour: Stadium in the round

Photos: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

U2 + YouTube = 10 million streams

For a band that has its own 3-D film and is performing under a giant spaceship-like contraption on its current tour, an Internet stream may not seem all that fancy. Yet it certainly proved to be a powerful promotional device.

U2's live broadcast Sunday night of the Pasadena stop on its 360 Tour generated 10 million streams across seven continents, according to a YouTube spokesman. What's more, since being archived on YouTube on Monday, the concert has tallied more than 1 million streams.

Information, however, on the average length of time viewers watched the nearly 2 1/2-hour concert was not readily available. YouTube has also not yet broken the numbers out into individual users. 

On the charts: 'Twilight' takes its rightful spot atop the tally

Anyone breathlessly watching the sales of the soundtrack to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" as some sort of indication of the franchise's continued stability should now know that all is well with the teenage soap opera. In its first full week in stores, the soundtrack climbs to No. 1, selling 153,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

On last week's chart, the album came in at No. 2, trailing pop vocalist Michael Bublé, and shocking those who expected the power of "Twilight" to be untouchable. Yet a number of factors played into "New Moon's" No. 2 ranking. One, the soundtrack is out a month in advance of the film (Nov. 20.). Two, "Twilight" may be big, but Bublé has been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, the ultimate pop-culture trump card. Third, the soundtrack to "New Moon" was released on a Friday, giving it only a three-day sales week.

Look for the album to pretty much maintain its residency near the top of the chart for the next few weeks. Soon, a "New Moon" mall tour will launch -- coming to Hollywood & Highland on Nov. 6 with performances from Death Cab for Cutie, Sea Wolf, Band of Skulls and more -- and the trek should give the Chop Shop/Atlantic album plenty of steam heading into the film's opening weekend.

By the numbers: U2's 360 concert at the Rose Bowl and that giant screen

U2 put on one heckuva performance at the Rose  Bowl Sunday night, but it was hard to ignore the elephant in the room.

There was one aspect of the production that literally overshadowed Bono's salience and kept the crowds talking for hours into the night -- that huge screen!

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: U2 360 tour: Stadium in the round

Willie Williams, the designer of the round screen, told The Times that the scale is "absolutely the least interesting thing about it."

We're not so sure about that.

Pop & Hiss caught up with Barco, the company that manufactured the massive LED screen that, international music sensations aside, is practically the centerpiece of the 360 Tour. We gathered some statistics on the production that will probably blow your mind.

Live review: U2's 360 Tour at the Rose Bowl

"Enough of the folk mass!" declared Bono during U2's historic Rose Bowl performance Sunday, leading his band and the nearly 100,000 fans in the stadium out of a singalong and into a dance party. The 49-year-old singer/activist/life of the party has been making such quick metaphorical turns for much of his life, fronting a band known for transcendence but hardly immune to sensual pleasure.

Usually, Bono and his band mates travel from prayers to come-ons on the force of charisma and a sound that's ascendant and sleekly funky, structured around the Edge's stretchy guitar parts and Bono's dirty-faced choirboy cries. But for this tour, U2 has adopted another mode of transport: the four-legged circular stage rig known as the Claw, or the Space Station. This contraption is an extravagance with a big carbon footprint and an even bigger price tag. But in Pasadena, it proved worth every Euro, allowing this most ambitious rock band to genuinely reconfigure live pop performance.

Plenty of artists have played in the round, built multi-tiered sets and spent time roaming through the crowd on ramps or trapezes. But the Space Station (Bono's preferred term these days) changes the architecture of the live concert. It not only puts the stadium audience closer to the band, it cuts holes in the fourth wall between star and fan, creating a feeling of immersion and communal connection that's startling in such a huge venue, and that translated differently in person than it could have on YouTube, where the concert was streamed live.

Amid the rattle and hum before U2's Rose Bowl show

U2 at the Rose Bowl: Last of the really big shows?

There was an air of intense excitement at the Rose Bowl for Sunday night's concert, but there was also a sense of urgency -- the era of rock bands selling out a 95,000-plus-seat show in America is, as they say, rapidly fading.

"The days of the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd and all those stadium tours, all of that is winding down; U2 may be the last band of that type," said Dan Bell of Monrovia, one of the fans who attended the biggest concert in the history of the venerable venue. "You won't see shows this big that aren't festivals."

The worry was that the show might be too big. The Rose Bowl has had notorious problems in the past for concerts, which have traffic patterns far more condensed than, say, a college football game with its tailgate trickle-in.

The gates opened more than half an hour after the advertised 5 p.m., and there was grumbling from sunbaked fans, especially those eager to get a spot on the field, which was general admission.

The opening act, L.A.'s own Black Eyed Peas, brought along special guest Slash to play "Sweet Child O' Mine" -- this really was a stadium show flashback -- and the crowd went wild.

The masses descend upon Pasadena for U2's Rose Bowl gig

After weeks of hype -- and multiple traffic warnings from Rose Bowl and Live Nation officials -- the U2 fanatics have invaded Pasadena. Some, writes L.A. Now, have been hanging out since 4 a.m. A record crowd of more than 95,000 people is expected -- the Rose Bowl's largest attendance since the 1994 World Cup finale. 

Concertgoers will witness the spectacle that is the Claw, a giant alien-like contraption that's generating far more media attention than any recent U2 song. The 90-foot-tall structure takes about four days to build, and was inspired by the the Theme Building at LAX. 

U2's 360 Tour is in support of its early 2009 release, "No Line on the Horizon." To date, the album has sold just over 1 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. A respectable number, no doubt, but it took U2 about 30 weeks to reach the seven-figure sales mark. By comparison, rapper Jay-Z hit the milestone in less than 2 months with his "Blueprint 3."

Nevertheless, U2's touring power has never really been in doubt. Tonight's Super Bowl-sized show is sold out, and will be streamed live on YouTube. Additionally, by mid-afternoon, plenty of the U2 faithful were out and about in Pasadena. 

The Times' Irfan Khan is on the scene:

Above, U2 fans camp out in a general admission area at the Rose Bowl.

More pictures are after the jump.