Moncton, Canada seems like the most unlikely place for a U2 tour ending destination, considering the Unforgettable Fire Tour ended in Wercheter, Belgium, the Joshua Tree Tour ended in Tempe Arizona and Zoo TV landed its final night in Tokyo. I know these tours in the distant past, but they all ended on a pretty high note. It seems as though the ending of 360˚ Tour in the remote town of Moncton, Canada seems a little off the beaten path. I would say more than beaten path since it is a six-hour drive from Augusta, Maine, the nearest American state capital. Even better, Moncton has a population of 126,424 people, which could all be dwarfed by The Claw in one sitting.
Now that I have given you a history lesson and directions, my wonderment comes in because I have no idea where, how or who decided this small, northeastern Canadian city to be the final resting place of this humongous tour. It still stupefies me that no major United States city, like New York or Boston, was considered. I guess someone must have put a map up on the wall, blind folded each band member and then gave them a solitary dart with the simple directions “launch it towards the wall.” From all four darts, they found the epicenter in Canada which means Larry or Edge’s dart had to have landed in Greenland or the middle of the Atlantic.
Nevertheless, this great, worldwide tour, which started in Spain, will dwindle to an end in the far reaches of Canada, playing songs, all along the way, from the vault like Scarlet, Silver and Gold, and Zooropa. For me, I cannot complain that the ending is in Moncton because it really has no effect on me. To those pinning for it to end in Dublin, I am sorry it isn’t. My gut feeling is that this Canadian town needs a bridge to nowhere and U2 will donate the stage, much like the Stones donated their stage to Japan after the Steel Wheels Tour, in order to build it. How prophetic would that be?
In any case, 360˚ is coming to an end. It has to and like always, once it it is gone, we await for another outing. Maybe the band will be more modest and go back to the stripped-down, arena shows the next time out. Or, maybe they will start busking on street corners as the Dalton Brothers. Anyway, none of this matters as we the 48 + Canada + Mexico relish in the final stages of U2’s ambitious outing named 360˚ without a care where it will end. We hope it goes off in peace.
