War Tour starts

On the subsequent 1983 War Tour of Europe, the US and Japan, the band played progressively larger venues, moving from clubs to halls to arenas. Bono attempted to engage the growing audiences with theatrical, often dangerous antics, climbing scaffolding and lighting rigs and jumping into the audience. The sight of Bono waving a white flag during performances of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” became the tour’s iconic image. The band played several dates at large European and American music festivals , including a performance at the US Festival on Memorial Day weekend for an audience of 125,000 people. Nearly rained out, the group’s 5 June 1983 concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre was singled out by Rolling Stone as one of “50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock and Roll”. The show was recorded for the concert video Live at Red Rocks , and was one of several concerts from the tour captured on their live album Under a Blood Red Sky . The releases received extensive play on MTV and the radio, expanding the band’s audience and showcasing their prowess as a live act. During the tour, the group established a new tradition by closing concerts with the War track ” 40 “, during which the Edge and Clayton would exchange instruments and the band members would leave the stage one by one as the crowd continued to sing the refrain “How long to sing this song?”. The War Tour was U2’s first profitable tour, grossing about US$2 million .