10 Most Overblown Stage Productions In Music Today

5. U2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZtsEY7AVMg U2's award-winning stage show has often known no boundaries, and has frequently been praised by even the bands staunchest of critics. 2001's 'Elevation' tour saw the band performing on a heart-shaped stage jutting into the middle of the arena, while moving LED lights and screen curtains have been a staple of later tours. For their famous 'Zoo TV' tour, the show was designed with the audience in mind so that they would experience a 'sensory overload' during the concert; 36 video screens (which displayed all manner of things; live shots, prerecorded footage, tabloid headlines, and even intercepted TV transmissions from a satellite the band had brought with them), seven suspended Trabant cars (because why not?), transmission-style stage spires (so tall that the Federal Aviation Administration required them to have blinking lights), and even a DJ booth that doubled as a disco ball. The show cost $125,000 per day, even if there was no show that day, due to the cost of hiring a massive 52 trucks to carry all the equipment, the 40-hour time it took to construct a show, and the 180-person crew. In the end though, a total of about 5.3 million people saw the tour. When it came to the band's 2009 tour for 'No Line on the Horizon', the band went one step further; collaborating with many of their former stage designers, the result was a huge "spaceship-on-four-legs" nicknamed 'The Claw', which the band performed underneath every night with the audience surrounding them for an 'in the round'-style performance. The structure would take days to deconstruct after each gig, with three separate stages on the road at any one time. The band would even link up with the International Space Station at some concerts, having various astronauts read out song lyrics or sing along. The tour grossed $736,421,584, making it officially the highest-grossing concert tour ever.