U2 Strikes Out

U2’s show at Seville Olympic Stadium Sept. 29 was put back 24 hours as Spanish workers staged a strike to protest the government’s new austerity measures.

Promoter Live Nation said it would have been risky to go ahead on the original date as many of the 75,000 fans who’d bought tickets would be depending on public transport to get to the show.

On the original show day, 90,000 self-employed bus drivers joined the strike, complaining that the price of diesel has soared by more than 20 percent since the start of the year.

BBC News reported that queues several kilometres long formed on the French side of the border because strikers refused to let foreign lorries enter the country.

Live Nation offered refunds to any fans that couldn’t make the rescheduled U2 date but reported that very few took it up on the offer.