Bono, who is at home recovering from major back surgery and has postponed his North American tour this summer, admitted that the band took a big risk using a futuristic spider-like stage in their 360 Degree tour.

The band created a stage that allowed viewing opportunities from every angel of a theater or stadium and spent millions of dollars in doing so.
Bono said: "Had it flopped on the first night, we would have been in some deep doo-doo.

"Think about a rock show in 360 degrees with the scale of a gigantic action film, except you're moving location every few days. You're building a whole city, then knocking it down, putting it into trucks and moving. It's quite something.

"You've got to try and give the audience, at the very least, something they've never seen before, or, maybe more importantly, something they haven't felt before."

Bassist Adam Clayton said that although the band agreed on the futurama stage it was Bono's brainchild.

He told The Sun newspaper: "It was Bono's vision, he's that kind of performer. I think the rest of us would be happy to stand on an old beer crate but he's the person working the stage."

On the postponement of the North American tour, manager Paul McGuinness said, "Our biggest and I believe best tour has been interrupted and we're all devastated. For a performer who lives to be on stage, this is more than a blow. He feels robbed of the chance to do what he does best and feels like he has badly let down the band and their audience."