U2's Troubled 360° Tour

It might seem strange to talk about a global stadium-filling tour as "troubled," but U2 aren't having the best of times of their gargantuan 360° jaunt. The tour turned up in Dublin this weekend, which should have been a triumphant homecoming for the band. Instead, they got fined €36,000 for breaking strict noise regulations and were met with protests from local residents who were angered by the huge disruption to the local area from over 100 trucks used. This comes at the end of a troubling few months for the band, who have concocted such an elaborate stage set for the 360° Tour that they still haven't turned a profit.



The tour has been running into problems since its inception. Environmentalists haven't been happy about the wasteful nature of the set design, and the enormous amount of energy taken to transport it across the globe. The Edge was ultimately forced to announce that the band was purchasing 'carbon credits' in an attempt to offset the damage they were doing to the environment. Even Talking Heads singer David Byrne has spoken out about the waste generated by the tour, saying the costs were "excessive."



In the meantime, the band members have had to deal with the tortuous process of getting their Spiderman musical off the ground (now delayed due to a lack of funding) and Bono was met by further anger and exasperation when he appeared at the right-leaning Conservative Party Conference in early October. A recent show in Berlin, where they constructed a modern-day Berlin Wall to keep out non-paying fans of the band, caused "outrage" according to this ABC News report.



Can Bono and the boys do anything right? They're probably pondering that question right now, although the crowds at the 360° dates have been decent, and their back catalog even gets a decent write-up in indie bible Pitchfork these days. Just don't ask them about sales for No Line on the Horizon, which Bono believes is "a bit challenging for people who have grown up on a diet of pop stars." Perhaps he forgot about his own aspirations in that direction?