There have been rumors that U2 would announce a Chicago date today and so it is. The Dublin foursome plays Soldier Field on Saturday, Sept. 12 as the opening date of its "U2 360˚ Tour" in support of its new disc, "No Line on the Horizon."
The tour opens at Barcelona's famed Camp Nou stadium on June 20 and then runs through Aug. 22 in Europe before landing in America for the Chicago show.
The stage was again designed by veteran U2 Show Director Willie Williams along architect Mark Fisher ("ZooTV," "PopMart," "Elevation" and "Vertigo"), to create an innovative 360˚ stage design that provides unobstructed views for the audience.
You can see the design at U2.com, where complete on-sale information will be available.
"U2 has always been at their best when surrounded by their audience, this staging takes a giant leap forward. With 85 percent of the tickets priced at less than $95, general admission floor tickets priced at $55 and at least 10,000 tickets at every venue priced at the $30 price range, we have worked very hard to ensure that U2 fans can purchase a great priced ticket with a guaranteed great view," said U2's manager Paul McGuinness in a statement.
The North American leg also includes shows in Toronto (Sept. 16), Boston (Sept. 20) and at Giants Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 24.
Although dates and venues have not yet been announced there will be gigs added in Atlanta, Charlottesville, Va., Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Norman, Okla., Phoenix, Tampa, Washington, DC. and Vancouver.
Among the openers on the tour are Glasvegas, Elbow, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and Black Eyed Peas.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
