Third U2 Croke Park date still on the cards

(Belfast Telegraph) -- A third Irish U2 concert is not off the cards yet with the four band members actively considering whether to play another date in Dublin.

Speculation about a third date has been rife since the 160,000 tickets for the first two shows sold out in a record 50 minutes.

But it is believed that the decision is now down to the band, who are considering personal reasons before committing to playing June 26.

Croke Park stadium manager Peter McKenna last night confirmed that the venue had made provision for the band to play three nights from June 24.

"Only two dates have been officially confirmed but that may change. We would be happy for them to play the third night but it is up to the band," he said last night.

Croke Park has already written to more than 10,000 premium ticket holders telling them that the supergroup would be at GAA headquarters for three nights.

The letter offers the premium ticket holders first option to buy tickets.

"We wanted to give them the option of buying tickets for all three dates. There seemed little sense in sending out a letter now in relation to two dates and then if a third was confirmed to do it again," said Mr McKenna.

Promoters MCD are still denying there will be a third date and said they only booked three nights at Croke Park as a preliminary measure.

A spokesperson said that at the time of booking, the band was not sure if the gigs would be on the Friday and Saturday or the Saturday and Sunday, so they booked all three nights as a precaution.

Tickets for the concerts on June 24 and 25 sold out in record time at a rate of 3,200 per minute online, over the phones and at outlets across the country.

Half that amount of tickets for U2's Slane concert in 2001 sold out in around the same time.

And another 140,000 people were still on-line after all hopes of getting a ticket were dashed, with promoters estimating that they could have sold at least a million tickets on Friday.

This means they could have filled 12 dates at Croke Park with ease. Within minutes, money-grabbing touts were selling tickets for the shows over the Internet, priced at over €500 each.