Today, U2.com announced U2's tour for 2009, dubbed the 360° Tour. As previously reported, it covers two legs, the first in Europe and the second in North America. The initial announcement includes 15 shows in Europe and 16 in North America, with clear gaps for additional shows to be added in some cities, e.g. Dublin. 360° promises to be a spectacle that lives up to its name, with all sides of the stadium offering unobstructed views of the band - although stadium diagrams on U2.com show how the stage's position on the field will favour one side of the venue. As normal, the staging design is by show director Willie Williams and architect Mark Fisher.

The tour schedule includes U2's first concert in Croatia. Sheffield, England receives its first U2 gig since 17 June 1992, plus it is U2's first outdoor gig in Sheffield. In Virginia, U2 are playing Charlottesville for the first time; meanwhile over the border in North Carolina, Raleigh finally gets its first show - over twelve years since the intended first concert on 29 May 1997 was cancelled. U2 are also playing Oklahoma for the first time since their War Tour concert in Norman on 10 June 1983.

See below for the full tour schedule. In brackets is the date tickets go on general sale. For pre-sale information, see this FAQ on U2.com. We will report complete ticketing information, e.g. agency details, as soon as it comes to hand. U2.com report that in Europe, 85% of tickets will be priced at less than 95 Euro, general admission floor tickets will be 55 Euro, and at least 10,000 tickets at every show will be priced "around" 30 Euro.

Update: U2.com have now removed 3 August, Gelsenkirchen and all concert dates from 29 September, Washington DC onwards from their tour page. The American cities are now only named without dates, and Raleigh is missing from this list. Furthermore, precise ticket sale dates have now been largely replaced with "ON SALE SOON!" Only the Milan, Amsterdam, and Gothenburg ticket sale dates remain, and are unchanged from what is reported below. You may wish to treat with caution all information that appears below but is not currently on U2.com's tour page; some changes might be in the works.

1st leg: European dates

· 2009-06-30 - Barcelona, Spain - Camp Nou (25 March)
· 2009-07-07 - Milan, Italy - San Siro (13 March)
· 2009-07-11 - Paris, France - Stade de France (20 March)
· 2009-07-15 - Nice, France - Parc des Sports Charles Ehrmann (20 March)
· 2009-07-18 - Berlin, Germany - Olympiastadion (27 March)
· 2009-07-20 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Amsterdam ArenA (14 March)
· 2009-07-24 - Dublin, Ireland - Croke Park (20 March)
· 2009-07-31 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Ullevi Stadion (13 March)
· 2009-08-03 - Gelsenkirchen, Germany - Veltins-Arena (27 March)
· 2009-08-06 - Chorzow, Poland - Slaski Stadium (20 March)
· 2009-08-10 - Zagreb, Croatia - Stadium Maksimir (27 March)
· 2009-08-14 - London, England - Wembley Stadium (20 March)
· 2009-08-18 - Glasgow, Scotland - Hampden Park (20 March)
· 2009-08-20 - Sheffield, England - Don Valley Stadium (20 March)
· 2009-08-22 - Cardiff, Wales - Millennium Stadium (20 March)

2nd leg: North American dates

· 2009-09-12 - Chicago, Illinois, USA - Soldier Field (30 March)
· 2009-09-16 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Rogers Centre (30 March)
· 2009-09-20 - Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Gillette Stadium (30 March)
· 2009-09-24 - East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA - Giants Stadium (30 March)
· 2009-09-29 - Washington, District of Columbia, USA - FedEx Field (6 April)
· 2009-10-01 - Charlottesville, Virginia, USA - Scott Stadium (4 April)
· 2009-10-03 - Raleigh, North Carolina, USA - Carter-Finley Stadium (6 April)
· 2009-10-06 - Atlanta, Georgia, USA - Georgia Dome (6 April)
· 2009-10-09 - Tampa, Florida, USA - Raymond James Center (18 April)
· 2009-10-12 - Dallas, Texas, USA - New Cowboys Stadium (20 April)
· 2009-10-14 - Houston, Texas, USA - Reliant Stadium (20 April)
· 2009-10-19 - Norman, Oklahoma, USA - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (4 April)
· 2009-10-20 - Phoenix, Arizona, USA - University of Phoenix Stadium (20 April)
· 2009-10-23 - Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - Sam Boyd Stadium (TBD)
· 2009-10-25 - Los Angeles, California, USA - Rose Bowl (6 April)
· 2009-10-28 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - B.C. Place Stadium (6 April)

As noted earlier, some parts of the schedule contain lengthy gaps between concerts so that extra shows can be added in some markets once the first concert has sold out. Furthermore, don't despair just yet if there are no concerts being held near your city: a recent Billboard report that proved accurate about the first two legs has forecast more shows in both North America and Europe over two legs in mid-2010, plus tentative plans to visit South America later in 2010.

You may also be wondering about support acts. A variety of artists will open 360° Tour concerts. Although none are confirmed for specific shows, U2.com mention that support acts will include Glasvegas, Elbow, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, and Black Eyed Peas. This media article provides a little more detail: Toronto will get Snow Patrol and Vancouver will get Black Eyed Peas. Once more news is available, we will post it.

To have all upcoming U2 dates in iCal on your Mac just click here. You can change the Auto-refresh time to something like every day to keep the calendar always up to date. All data for the calendar comes from our database.

Posted on March 09, 2009 by Axver