U2 Announces North American Tour Dates

Less than a week after the release of its new album, No Line on the Horizon, Irish rock band U2 announced the first North American dates on its upcoming world tour.

The tour, rumored to be called the "Kiss the Future Tour," but currently known only as the "U2 360 Tour," will kick off June 30 in Barcelona at the Camp Nou stadium of soccer club FC Barcelona. The first U.S. dates will begin in September, after a run of European dates lasting until late August.

So far, there are only four confirmed shows: September 12 in Chicago (Soldier Field), September 16 in Toronto (Rogers Centre), September 20 in Boston (Gillette Stadium) and September 24 in New York (Giants Stadium). Tickets for these shows will go on sale at the end of March, according to the Web site U2gigs.com.

U2's Web site also mentions dates in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles, with additional shows planned in more atypical markets: Charlottesville, Va.; Raleigh, N.C. and Norman, Okla.. According to U2gigs.com, the Charlottesville and Raleigh shows will mark the band's first ever performances in those towns; Norman will get its first show since 1983, during the "War" tour.

None of the additional North American dates have been officially confirmed as of yet, but it is believed they will all take place in September and October.

The tour will see U2 take advantage of an innovative new 360-degree stage setup that will allow every seat in a stadium to be filled and have an unobstructed view of the band. According to the band's Web site, the design came from a collaboration between two longtime U2 tour players: show director Willie Williams and architect Mark Fisher, who worked on the band's last four album tours.

Supporting acts for each date have not been confirmed, but U2's Web site mentions that they will include Glasvegas, Elbow, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol and the Black Eyed Peas. Canadian music site Jam! Music has reported that Snow Patrol will open the Toronto show, while Black Eyed Peas will open in Vancouver toward the end of the tour.

In the meantime, the official sales figures for No Line on the Horizon will be released on March 10. The album has already topped the U.K. charts, and Billboard expects sales of around 400,000 copies in the U.S., which should be enough to earn the band its seventh U.S. No. 1 album.

However, the figure would represent a decrease of more than 50 percent from the first-week sales figures posted by U2's last album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. That album debuted with 840,000 copies sold in November 2004. However, many experts suggested that figure was inflated due to the holiday shopping rush.