U2 return to One Tree Hill

Irish superband U2 have confirmed a one-off New Zealand concert on November 25, within sight of One Tree Hill.

The band will bring their U2 360 Tour to Mt Smart in Auckland, with the venue expected to hold about 50,000 fans.

Organisers expect demand to be so intense that the show will sell out within minutes of going on sale on Friday, September 3.

The band's manager, Paul McGuinness, said U2 were at their best when surrounded by an audience. A purpose-built set featuring a 50m-high, four-legged stage with rotating bridges and a giant video system would allow that to happen.

"It was important to bring the whole production so fans could experience the latest U2 production."

By the time the tour reaches Auckland, it will have already played to about four million fans.

The unique stage also means cash-strapped fans can see the show, with ticket prices starting at about $40.

The trip will bring back memories of Kiwi Greg Carroll, lead singer Bono's personal assistant, who died in a 1986 motorcycle crash in Dublin while delivering a motorcycle to the superstar. The song "One Tree Hill" was written for him.

It is so special to Carroll's memory that after it closed a show in Amsterdam in 1990, it wasn't played live again until U2 visited Auckland in 2006.

Bono, guitarist The Edge, Adam Clayton on bass, and drummer Larry Mullen Jr have been together since 1976. By the mid-80s they were a top international live act, but it wasn't until the release of The Joshua Tree in 1987 that things took off.

Today U2 are equally famous for fighting social injustice, campaigning against the war in Bosnia, and for Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Northern Ireland peace accord, child victims of Chernobyl, democracy in Myanmar, South African Aids relief, and for playing Live 8 in London in 2005, a commitment that saw them given Amnesty's Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Tickets go on sale on September 3 at Ticketek.co.nz/U2360 or 0800 TICKETEK. U2.com subscribers will be able to buy tickets ahead of that, with details at www.u2.com.

- © Fairfax NZ News