Surprise, surprise. Tour rumours turn out to be false. Don't say you didn't see it coming. What I'm trying to say here, in case you did not guess straight away, is that no rehearsals took place today. In fact, it seems that even Monday's rumour that U2 were arriving in Italy that day was inaccurate. That's the bad news. U2Italia is now reporting (in Italian) a new rumour that U2 will arrive on Thursday and rehearsals may consequently begin late this week.

We do have good news to report - three little tidbits of information to be precise. Firstly, U2.com has begun a ten day video countdown to the resumption of the tour here. This particular video isn't the most informative thing in the world, but we were able to gleam some interesting developments from the teasers U2.com posted last year. Hopefully we might get a few more good hints this time around.

Secondly, in Turin itself, work has continued apace on the stage, and tonight it was lit up for the first time. The latest picture from the stadium webcam can be seen below:



Thirdly, on a related note, since the publication of our last article, another picture has been added to this post (in Italian) on U2Place. It shows the Claw inside Stadio Olimpico with the spire attached, and that work is evidently proceeding on the stage itself.

This picture, reposted from U2Place, is credited to Diego Spagnoli:



Stay tuned for further news as it happens, but it is probably advisable not to set your hopes for rehearsals too high over the next couple of days.

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Axver