Tribute act performs ahead of U2’s beautiful Croker day

IRELAND’S top U2 tribute act, Zooropa, take to the stage in the Button Factory in the heart of Temple Bar a day before the real thing kicks off in Croker on July 22.

With a full two-hour performance fans can expect to hear all the classics, so for those who failed to get a ticket for Croke Park there will be some consolation at this intimate gig on July 21.

Also during the day, the Button Factory, along with the Irish Rock ‘N’ Roll Museum, will become a U2 hub welcoming fans from around the world with a discount on their tour when you show them a Zooropa ticket.

Around the corner you will find Hot Press Magazine’s Covers Exhibition in the National Photographic Archive, Ireland’s music magazine which inspired U2 along with many other Irish musicians.

Tickets for Zooropa are

?¬10 from Eventbrite. Doors are open at 7.30pm.

U2 arrive for their one Irish show on the Joshua Tree Tour on Saturday, July 22.

More than 82,000 fans are expected at Croker which recently hosted Coldplay who took to the stage there on July 8.

Up to 1,000 security guards and nearly 200 gardai will be on duty on the day.

Inspector Tony Gallagher of Mountjoy Garda Station  said that armed members of the gardai would be in attendance at both concerts.

“It’s a component of our plan,

? he said.

“Our plan is to deal with any kind of eventuality so we do have a response to it, but it’s a reassurance model in terms of the overall package, in terms of policing the event.

“Of course, we would be naive not to have an awareness of what’s going on in Europe and that’s what we say when we talk about a component of a plan that might respond to that.

“Armed personnel are a feature of a lot of the events that we run at Croke Park.

?

Inspector Gallagher added that, while the level of threat from a terrorist attack in Ireland remains

“moderate

?, armed gardai are present

“at all these events

?.

Event controller Eamonn Fox said they have always had

“very tight security

? in place, but they have increased it in the wake of recent events.

“The additional bag search is something we had done before on the pitch areas and now we’ve increased it to the seating area, so it’s heightened our awareness,

? he said.

The usual ban on large backpacks will be enforced, and anyone attending is advised to allow extra time for security checks and to use public transport.

Stadium director Peter McKenna said both gigs are worth

?¬80 million to the local economy.