U2 Makes History with First Global Concert Webcast on YouTube

Groundbreaking Irish rock band U2 made music history when it staged the first ever global concert by streaming its concert from the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California last October 25 live to the rest of the United States and to fifteen other countries through the popular video-sharing website YouTube and the band's own website U2.com. Aside from the fans in the sold-out 96,000-capacity arena, millions of other fans from the United States and other countries were also able to watch the show live. Other countries who were fortunate enough to simultaneously catch the band’s penultimate show of their 360˚ Tour were the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico, India, Israel, South Korea and the Netherlands, wired.com reports. Webcast started at 8:30 pm PT. “The band has wanted to do something like this for a long time. As we're filming the LA show, it's the perfect opportunity to extend the party beyond the stadium. Fans often travel long distances to come to see U2 - this time U2 can go to them, globally”, U2 manager Paul McGuinness said. This is the first time that the popular video-sharing website YouTube has ever broadcast a complete concert live. But don’t expect to see concert webcasts like this to be commonplace anytime soon. According to Chris Maxcy, Google’s director of YouTube Partner Development, although the technology is already available the rights associated with doing an event like this are complex and often owned by multiple parties (band members, song writers, labels, publishers, managers, the venue, the production company, etc.), all of whom must be persuaded to make the show come together. Hence, events like this may be limited to high-profile bands for now. The show was also integrated with another popular social networking site Twitter, where one fan’s smart Tweet went: ”This has to be the best U2 concert I have never been to”. U2 is a 22-time Grammy award-winning band originally from Dublin, Ireland whose members consist of Bono on vocals, Adam Clayton on bass, Larry Mullen Jr. on drums, and the Edge on guitar. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.