I haven’t decided whenter or not I will go and see them on this tour. Obviously they don’t need my money, but I still might. We’ll see.

U2 tour rattles sales records, hums along
Can any act top U2’s new record?
The band’s U2 360 world stadium tour is now the biggest-grossing concert trek of all time ó and the bar will soon be set out of just about everybody else’s reach.
With Sunday night’s performance in S„o Paulo, U2 surpassed the $554 million earned by the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang tour in 2005-07. By the time the two-year tour wraps up July 30 in Canada, it will have made more than $717 million, sold 7 million tickets and played 110 stadium shows in 30 countries.
“U2 was at a place with touring that we thought we could be successful,” says Arthur Fogel, global touring CEO at Live Nation Entertainment. “For a band to top this, they would have to play all stadiums. Otherwise they would have to do so many shows it wouldn’t be feasible.”
U2 travels with its own massive stage, set up at the center of the field. The 360-degree design allows the audience to surround the stage and features a large, four-legged steel structure that houses the speaker system and video screen.
“Given the huge capacities this unique production allows, and U2’s ability to fill these stadiums, this will be an extremely tough record to break,” says Ray Waddell, Billboard’s senior editor for touring.
Recent comparable tours fall far short. AC/DC’s Black Ice world tour (2008-10) made $441 million in 167 dates; The Police’s reunion tour (2007-08) made $359 million in 156 dates.
How about the Stones, who celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2012? (In February, the band announced on Facebook that it had “no news on touring” but urged fans to “watch this space!”)
“The Stones conceivably could challenge it, especially if they went out with a ticket price double what U2 charged (about $250) on the top end,” Waddell says.
It’s unlikely that any other band has the fan base necessary to even come close.
Today’s fragmented audience makes it “difficult for bands to develop into stadium acts with staying power,” Waddell says. “When you’re talking U2 and the Stones, it’s rarified air, indeed.”