U2 slash concert ticket prices

U2 today promised tens of thousands of cut-price tickets for a wave of summer concerts across Ireland and the UK.

The band said they have developed a “unique and original” stage for their 360-degree tour and will release recession-busting, low-cost tickets so all fans can see it.

“U2 have always been at their best when surrounded by their audience. This staging takes a giant leap forward,” said the band’s manager Paul McGuinness.

“With 85% 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 around €30, we have worked very hard to ensure that U2 fans can purchase a great-priced ticket with a guaranteed great view.”

Bono and his bandmates will play a homecoming in Croke Park on July 24, before taking to London’s Wembley Stadium on August 14, Glasgow’s Hampden Park on August 18 and Sheffield’s Don Valley stadium on August 20.

The European leg of the tour, promoting the band’s number one album 'No Line on the Horizon', will finish at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on August 22.

Other dates include their opening gig at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona on June 30, as well as shows in Milan, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Chorzow, Berlin and Gelsenkirchen.

The band will then move its massive entourage to North America for a string of concerts beginning at Chicago’s Soldier Field on September 12.

Glasvegas, Elbow, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and Black Eyed Peas are among the support acts confirmed for the tour.

Long-time U2 show director Willie Williams has worked again with architect Mark Fisher, who was behind the visual spectaculars of ZooTV, PopMart, Elevation and Vertigo, to create the 360 degree, unobstructed view, stage design.

The tour is the band’s first stadium outing since the Vertigo concerts in 2005 and 2006.