'Everyone's in a great mood...'

27 Jun 2009
Spanish press in the house last night, first chance for the media to check out the new production. Some of the key players in the production were on hand to explain how it's all come together, including the band's manager Paul McGuinness and Mark Fisher, the co-designer of the new stage production.

1. 'It's a perfect stadium for us to open the tour,' said Paul McGuinness. 'There's no running track around the pitch, the seats are close to the stage and Barcelona have just won the Champions League so everyone's in a great mood!'

2. The band have rehearsed more than thirty songs but the set list is changing at every rehearsal - nothing is set in stone for Tuesday.

3. Ever since he was a fresh-faced architecture student, Mark Fisher has loved the Catalan visionary Antoni Gaudi. 'So when people here in Barcelona say to me that the new production reminds them in some way of Gaudi... that means a lot to me!'

4. Three stages will leapfrog each other across Europe and North America between shows. Sound, lights and screens will be loaded out after each show and head straight to the next city.

5.'It would be crazy if they weren't a bit nervous about the opening of a new show,' explained Paul McGuinness. ' It's a very complicated production but that's why we've been here for a while now, rehearsing the production, as much as the music.'

6. Mark Fisher: 'The inspiration was to create something that would sit in the middle of the stadium and make everyone feel like they were really close to the band and make the band feel like they are really close to the audience.'

RECENT NEWS

9 May, 2024

Or your own Stratocaster, designed by Edge for Fender? Two of the special prizes in an auction to support critical health care services in LA.

8 May, 2024

 Subscribers Special
Creative Director Willie Williams on how U2:UV harnessed the shape-shifting potential of the Sphere.

6 May, 2024

 Subscribers Special
Hundreds of fans took their U2 tattoos to Zoo Station where Professor Beth Nabi was on hand to document every one.

3
3 May, 2024

From 1997's Pop album, this is the third remastered single in the series of digital Deep Dives and B-Sides.