Alfredo Flores, award-winning D.C.-based freelance event photographer

PHOTO STORY

U2 360° Tour at Fed Ex Field

Photo Credit:Alfredo Flores, Special to Metromix

U2? Perhaps it’s a band you may have heard of! Well the masses made the trek out to Fed Ex Field in Landover, MD to see the spectacle that is U2. Like the 360° description in the tour’s title, U2’s stage itself is circular and is almost completely encircled by another ring – Bono’s runway so he can walk deep into the audience on the field. The Dublin, Ireland rockers have released 12 studio albums, with worldwide sales totaling 145 million records, and they have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band. But none of that mattered to those lucky enough to get tickets to the sold-out show. Many in attendance gawked at the U2’s enormous stage, which featured a steel structure that took four days to build, $40 million to construct, three days to break down, transport and set up again, and features a 150-foot pylon and a 54-ton cylindrical video screen that lit up Fed Ex Field. U2’s arena anthems were a perfect fit for what quite possibly has been one of the biggest stage setups in the history of live music. Among the hits belted out by Bono, rocking his signature purple shades, during the band’s two-and-a-half hour show, were "Beautiful Day," "New Years Day,” "Get On Your Boots," and "Where The Streets Have No Name." One of the more touching moments of the night was when Bono pulled a Persian-American from the audience, and denounced racism in the United States. The two were draped by a large American flag while they sang "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Opening for U2 were English rockers Muse.