U2's tour of Australia/New Zealand confirmed

This article was edited at 5:30am Australian time to reflect the press release of official confirmation by the tour promoters. When this article was first published around two hours earlier, it relied upon unofficial confirmation via newspaper articles.

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Australian time, major newspapers in all the eastern state capitals as well as across the Tasman in New Zealand have been running stories on the forthcoming U2 tour of Australia and New Zealand. This is the Sunday newspaper scoop alluded to in our previous article on the topic. Examples include articles from Stuff.co.nz and the Sydney Morning Herald. These were soon followed by U2fanz.com posting the official press release from the promoters. The Oceania tour is now official.

The official dates, unchanged from our earlier rumoured report except for the addition of the New Zealand show, are as follows:

25 November 2010: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand
1 December 2010: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
8 December 2010: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland
13 December 2010: ANZ Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales
18 December 2010: Subiaco Oval, Perth, Western Australia

The venues in Auckland, Melbourne, and Sydney are the same as those used on the Vertigo Tour; Brisbane sees the venue upgraded from the dismal Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre to Suncorp Stadium; and Perth receives its first ever outdoor U2 concert. A temporary stand is even being built at Mt Smart Stadium to accommodate extra fans.

Tickets will go on sale on 3 September as previously reported. General admission will cost $99.90, while the cheapest seats will be a mere $39.90. We will post full ticketing details when they become known, though keep an eye on here; Ticketmaster has already established a U2 micro-site for the Melbourne and Perth gigs.

Unfortunately, Adelaide looks like it has missed out on a gig, despite swiftly selling out in 2006. U2's pattern of performing in either Adelaide or Perth continues, despite the two cities being thousands of kilometres apart. On both eighties Australian tours, U2 visited both cities, but since then, ZooTV and Vertigo visited Adelaide while Popmart and the current tour hit Perth.

Posted on Saturday, August 21, 2010 @ 19:56:38 CEST by Axver