The Biggest Show on Earth: The U2 360-Degree Tour and Its Implications for the Concert Industry

Dan Dicker
Indiana University (Undergraduate Student Paper)

Abstract

The rock band U2 is currently touring stadiums and arenas across the globe in what is, by all accounts, the most ambitious and expensive concert tour and stage design in the history of the live music business. U2’s 360-Degree Tour, produced and marketed by Live Nation Entertainment, is projected to become the top-grossing tour of all time when it concludes in July of 2011. This is due to a number of different factors that this paper will examine: the stature of the band, the stature of the ticket-seller and concert-producer, the ambitious and attendance-boosting design of the stage, the relatively-low ticket price when compared with the ticket prices of other tours and the scope of the concert's production, and the resiliency of ticket sales despite a poor economy. After investigating these aspects of the tour, this paper will determine that this concert endeavor will become a new model for arena level touring and analyze the factors for success.

Keywords: music industry, entertainment industry, live music, U2, 360-Degree Tour, concert industry, concert tours, Live Nation

Dicker, Dan. “The Biggest Show on Earth: The U2 360-Degree Tour and Its Implications for the Concert Industry.” Journal of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association 11, no. 1 (2011): 239-262.  https://doi.org/10.25101/11.10

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