U2 heading for record O2 Arena residency?

Reports say that Irish rockers U2 are mulling over a residency at London's O2 Arena this autumn, after their new album is released. Manager Paul McGuinness was quoted as saying, "It’s got great potential for U2 and because it's under cover you can do a run of shows in the autumn," according to Rolling Stone magazine (here).

It's thought that the Irish rockers, who are currently promoting their film U23D, will outdo Prince's run of 21 gigs with an even longer residency, but reports that they'll be there until Christmas seem unlikely.

McGuinness was interviewed after his keynote address at the International Managers Summit in Cannes, where he called upon governments and ISPs to end illegal downloading.

McGuinness said he wanted to secure the financial future for all bands. "There’s a lot of money in the music business, but it has stopped coming to the artists," he said during his adddress. "U2 decided a long time ago that it would be pathetic to be great artists but not great at business.

That looks highly unlikely to happen before U2 release their new album, and the O2 residency, if it lasts months, would be good 'business sense' to recoup the profits the band could lose.

FUTURE GIGS

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