U2 Claws Back Tour Costs

U2’s massive 360 tour has generated euro 205 million ($300 million) in ticket sales but still not turned a profit, although tour producer Arthur Fogel tells Pollstar it will still be the highest-grossing and most successful tour ever when it wraps in 2010.

Band manager Paul McGuinness believes the breakeven point will be reached at some point during the current U.S. dates, according to the U.K.’s Sunday Times.

What’s being called the most expensive rock ’n’ roll expedition ever mounted is said to be costing euro 511,245 ($750,000) per day on the road, regardless of whether the band is even playing that night.

The entourage has more than 200 trucks transporting crew and equipment, which includes three stages – each shaped like a giant claw – estimated to have cost between $40 million and $140 million each. International stage builder Stageco has declined to reveal the actual cost.

The 360 tour is the first of three U2 is expected to undertake as part of its 12-year contract with concert promoter Live Nation.

It signed up in March last year for a rumoured $100 million and the tours are anticipated to generate $1.46 billion in total.