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| Tour by U2 | |
 Promotional poster | |
| Location |
|
|---|---|
| Associated album | War |
| Start date | 1 December 1982[1] |
| End date | 30 November 1983[1] |
| Legs | 2 to 5, depending upon definition[1] |
| No. of shows | up to 110, depending upon definition[1] |
| U2 concert chronology | |
The War Tour was a concert tour by the Irish rock band U2, which took place in 1982 and 1983 in support of the group's third album War.[1] The tour took place in Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan, with new material from War taking an increasing role as the tour progressed. Venues were mostly halls, but some arenas were introduced later on. U2's performances were very well received both critically and commercially, especially in the United States where U2 broke through to become a major act. Scenes of lead singer Bono waving a white flag during the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" became an emblematic image of this phase of U2's career. It was their first tour as full-time headlining act and their first to be profitable.
The live album Under a Blood Red Sky and the concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky both originated from performances on the tour. The latter matched U2's concert fervour with the spectacular natural setting of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the rain to produce a memorable document of the War Tour and to further increase the group's popularity; U2's filming of the Red Rocks show was later selected by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll".
- ^ a b c d e Exact delineation of this tour is subject to various interpretations. U2's website labels the Pre-War Tour as separate from the War Tour, and specifies only two legs for the War Tour, with the second leg containing the American dates, the European festivals, and the Japan dates (despite the large geographical and chronological gaps between them). Tour chronicler Pimm Jal de la Parra also considers the Pre-War Tour and the War Tour as separate and specifies two legs for the War Tour, but considers the second leg to have ended with the American dates, with the European festivals and Japan dates are outside the tour per se. Long-running website u2tours.com has the same definitions as the U2 website. Website u2gigs.com groups the 1982 dates within the War Tour as a zeroth 'War Pre-Tour' leg, and assigns the European festivals and the Japan dates each their own leg, for an overall total of five legs. Website u2station.com is similar. Website u2setlists.com follows the same practice with regard to the Pre-War Tour, but the European festivals and Japan dates to be legless parts of the overall tour. There is no official definition of concert tours and their legs, especially in the early stages of artists' careers when touring takes place on a nearly constant basis. For the sake of convenience, everything that could be considered part of the War Tour is discussed in this article.