page_title: U2 360° Tour
section_title: Link up with the International Space Station
hierarchical_section_title: U2 360° Tour / Link up with the International Space Station
caption_attribution_description: Screenshot from a video of American astronaut Mark E. Kelly inside the International Space Station. The video was shown by rock band U2 at concerts on the U2 360° Tour, prior to the song "Beautiful Day".
context_page_description: The U2 360° Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, the tour visited stadiums from 2009 through 2011. The concerts featured the band playing "in the round" on a circular stage, allowing the audience to surround them on all sides. To accommodate the stage configuration, a large four-legged structure nicknamed "The Claw" was built above the stage, with the sound system and a cylindrical, expanding video screen on top of it. At 164 feet tall, it was the largest stage ever constructed. U2 claimed that the tour would be "the first time a band has toured in stadiums with such a unique and original structure."
  In an era of declining music sales, analysts expected U2 360° to be a major source of income for the band. Every date of the tour sold out, many within minutes of tickets going on sale. To accommodate the time required to assemble and transport "The Claw" between tour dates, three separate stage structures were required on tour. The 360-degree production increased the capacity of venues by up to 25%, leading to attendance records at over 60 venues.
context_section_description: During some concerts on the European leg of the tour, a video link-up with the crew of the International Space Station was aired. This segment was recorded by the astronauts on 26 June 2009. In an interview with BBC Radio, Bono stated that a second video piece had been recorded where the astronauts aboard the International Space Station sang "Your Blue Room". A NASA press release revealed that crewmember Frank De Winne had recorded the final verse of the song on 18 August 2009. Images of the Station and of space provided to the band by NASA were presented in a video montage during the piece, recorded for the North American leg of the tour. A different video piece featuring DeWinne debuted at the Las Vegas concert during "In a Little While" where Frank repeats the bridge at the very end of the song.
  During the second North American leg, a recording of astronaut Mark Kelly during Space Shuttle Endeavour's trip to the International Space Station was used to introduce the song "Beautiful Day." Using lyrics from David Bowie's "Space Oddity", he dedicated it to his wife, US Congress member Gabrielle Giffords. The representative, injured in the 2011 Tucson shooting and still in recovery at the time of the recording, had previously selected "Beautiful Day" as a wake-up call for Kelly during a previous shuttle mission.
caption: A video of astronaut Mark Kelly was featured prior to performances of "Beautiful Day" on the final leg.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint.NET v3.5.8", "Image Tag 0x5110": "1", "Image Tag 0x5111": "0", "Image Tag 0x5112": "0"}