Engineering the U2 360 Tour

I recently saw a concert that was projected onto a screen that could be seen from nearly any seat in the stadium. This screen expands, and moves up and down, too. Where was it? At the U2 360 concert at The New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey, where we caught the band near the end of its long international tour. The show was great! Instead of a concert review, however, let's learn about the engineering behind the unique screen and the thing that supports it - otherwise known as "The Claw". And did I mention that the elliptically-shaped, ringed stage has a pair of moving bridges?

The Screen

The screen for the U2 360 tour was based on a Hoberman sphere and "Iris Structure". Rather than being a sphere, however, the screen is an elliptical, transformable LED screen. Here are the screen's stats:

• 3,800 square feet (about the size of a tennis court)
• 888 1 foot x 4 foot hexagonal LED screens
• 500,000 pixels

At the beginning of the show the screen appears to be an ellipse with a solid-looking image projected onto it. Because the im

age was projected multiple times, it could be seen more than once from some angles. The screen was fully functional; images were real-time video, scrolling text, and crazy graphics. Somewhere in the middle of the show the mesh surface scissored open and it expanded into a cone shape. The image was still projected and it appeared to be 50% transparent. The "solid" ellipse can also move down, encircling the band on the stage.

"The Claw"

At first glance, it appeared to be a giant insect with huge spidery legs (this was ruled out upon seeing only four "limbs") and orange covers on the bumpy points. It's known as the caw or the space station by the band. And I've never seen anything like it. The lighting inside makes it appear to change color and some external appendages make it change appearance, too. Here are the claw's stats:

• 100 feet tall
• 170 feet tall including "lighting conductor"
• 190 tons
  

There are actually three claws. They rotate through the different tour locations, arriving well ahead of the band, and are loaded in about 24 hours preceding the show. The stage is set up first, followed by the claw, followed by the other equipment and screen.

The Stage

Here are the stage's stats:

• 74 foot ellipse major axis
• 51 foot minor axis
• 174 foot ellipse major axis on the stage B runway
• 151 foot ellipse minor axis on the stage B runway

Two bridges connect the main stage and the stage B runway. These bridges can move all the way around the ellipse and were used by various band members during the show to get closer to different parts of the audience.

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