iNNOCENCE & eXPERIENCE Tour

The iNNOCENCE & eXPERIENCE tour was announced on December 3, 2014 with both the North American and European legs being announced on the same day. The tour saw U2 returning to arenas after the worldwide U2360 stadium tour. The stage divided the arenas down the middle, running from a main stage at one end of the arena, and long catwalk down the middle of the arena, and a round stage at the other side of the arena. Above the catwalk was a LED cage, which lit up and functioned as a screen, and in which U2 would also perform, called the barricage. The main stage, rectangular in shape was called the 'i' stage and the round stage, decorated with an 'e' was called the 'e' stage. From above, the staging resembled the tour logo. In some venues the stage was so long it actually did prevent movement from one side of the stage to the other at certain points during the production.

The tour was announced through a press release on the internet, as well as articles on the bands own website. Due to a bike accident in New York the previous month, Bono was recovering from injuries and did little in promotion for the tour. A large event planned for Times Square the week of the announcement for World AIDS Day saw Bono being replaced on stage by Bruce Springsteen, Chris Martin and others.

U2 would again use the same stage in 2018 for the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour, with an upgraded barricage, and that tour was a thematic sequel to this tour.

An early plan for the tour suggested that U2 would possibly play the newer songs on one night while focusing on the hits on another night, with one show being branded "innocence" and the other branded "experience." Shows were booked in pairs for this tour with this in mind, but eventually the plan to do this was dropped during tour rehearsals.

Sponsorship for the tour came from the cloud computing company, Salesforce.

Innocence & Experience: Leg One [North America]

The first leg of the tour visited cities in the United States and Canada. This leg was announced when the tour was announced on December 3, 2014. Presales started the following day on December 4, 2014 for U2.Com members, with the on sale for tickets to the general public starting on December 8, 2014. Unlike previous tours, multiple shows were announced right from the start, and the press release specified that the tour would include "pairs of shows in each city." The initial announcement included four shows in Inglewood, and four shows in New York. Additional shows were announced after the intial announcement but not necessarily following in pairs. One additional show was added in Inglewood, two additional shows in Montreal and Boston, three additional shows in Chicago, and four more shows in New York City for a total of eight shows at Madison Square Garden in total.

Rehearsals for the concerts were held in Vancouver starting on April 21 at The Pacific Coliseum. U2 used that venue for weeks, before moving the stage to the Rogers Arena in the same city where the tour would open. Opening night in Vancouver saw a moment of surprise as The Edge, walking along the catwalk between stages, stepped off the edge, and fell to the floor below, both the guitarist and his instrument were ok.

The opening night in Vancouver was partially broadcast on iHeart stations in North America, with the first three songs airing. A performance from the second night in Vancouver of "Song for Someone" was televised for Red Nose Day. Also segments of the show were streamed on the internet using the service Meerkat. U2 would invite an audience member on stage to film a song, giving them a camera and letting them wander the stage while the band played.

Innocence & Experience: Leg Two [Europe]

The second leg of the tour visited cities in Europe. This leg was also announced when the tour was announced on December 3, 2014. Like the first leg, shows were initially planned to be offered in pairs, a decision that was later abandoned. In the initial announcement a pair of shows was announced for all cities, with four shows being announced for London. No dates were announced for Ireland but shows were mentioned for Dublin, "special shows are being planned for Dublin for the end of next year – to benefit the U2-initiated Music Generation project - details of which will be announced as soon as they are finalised." The four shows for Dublin were announced on September 9, 2015, along with two shows for Belfast announced on the same date. The delay in announcement of these Irish shows was partially due to the small venues, and the need to reconfigure the stage to work in these venues. Additional shows were added in many markets after the announcement including two shows in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, and London.

Although there were no opening acts on the tour, a number of artists joined U2 on stage throughout the tour including Zucchero, Noel Gallagher, Patti Smith, and the Eagles of Death Metal. Many nights saw fans invited on stage to play with the band, as well as a continuation of the Meerkat broadcasts filmed by fans.

Four shows were scheduled for Paris back to back in November 2015, but due to terror attacks in the city on November 13, U2 postponed their final two shows in the city until the end of the tour. When the dates were rescheduled, the band invited the Eagles of Death Metal who had been playing at the Bataclan when it was attacked to join them on stage, and indeed, the last song played on the tour was by that band, and not by U2. A live broadcast of the Paris shows had also been planned, and was rescheduled with the change in dates. The shows in Paris at the end of the tour were filmed and released as the home video for that tour.

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