New Zealand: U2 Doing the Numbers

The U2 360° tour coming to Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium in November is a biggie. Here's numerical proof and other really useful info ...

0: What ticketholders will pay for bus and train public transport to the Auckland show. Yep, it's free.
1: The first word in the name of a local hill which should feature in the set list here and possibly nowhere else in the world. Also the name of another U2 song which might also feature.
2: The possible number of nights U2 will play in Auckland once all the first night tickets are sold. Could even be three, given the gap to the first Australian show.*
3: Number of Claw stages and crews being used for the Australia and New Zealand tour.
6: How many 747 freighters are required to get the whole thing Downunder.
9: Time in the morning on September 3 when tickets go on sale via Ticketek.
15: The number of nationalities among the U2 crew. Yes, there's a Kiwi or two.
48: In seconds, how long it will probably take to sell out the first show.*

52: In metres, the full height of The Claw stage with the central pylon. The video screens are about 30m off the ground.
54: The percentage of the tickets at the Mt Smart show that will be under $100.
248: The number of shipping containers the production will use to tour Australia and New Zealand.
150: In US dollars, the 2009 net worth of hip-hop opening act Jay-Z. And that's not counting his missus Beyonce's share of the joint account.
300: In NZ dollars the highest-priced tickets. Okay, it's actually $299.90. That's not counting the $349.50 Red Zone tickets which include a $250 donation to support Red in helping eliminate Aids in Africa through the distribution of retroviral drugs. So far 25,000 Red Zone purchasers have bought more than nine million doses of anti-retroviral medicine for use in six different countries. See joinred.com/aboutred
390: How many tonnes the Claw stage weighs without the production load.
590: How much it weighs in tonnes after all the gear is loaded. And that's not counting Bono carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
4500: The number of temporary seats being installed at Mt Smart.
6000: How many square metres of arena panel flooring that will be protecting the Mt Smart turf
60,000: What Mt Smart Stadium's capacity will stretch to for the in-the-round show.
4,000,000: The number of people the U2 360° tour has already played to.
* Idle speculation at this stage, not factual.

- TimeOut
www.nzherald.co.nz