One of U2’s enormous 360° tour stages now stands in Draper, Utah, repurposed as EECO, a permanent landmark at Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. The tour’s other Claw systems were returned to builder Stageco after the tour, but the available accounts do not establish what ultimately happened to each one. The often-repeated $30 million cost is not confirmed by the sources that document the stage’s history.
What happened to U2’s “Claw” stage?
After U2’s 360° tour ended in 2011, its three touring systems returned to Stageco’s U.S. and Belgian bases for maintenance and refresh. Stageco president Hedwig de Meyer told Live Design that the systems were apparently for sale after the tour. That report describes the immediate post-tour plan, not the eventual fate of every system.
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One Claw later found a permanent home in Utah. Loveland Living Planet Aquarium announced in 2018 that it was acquiring a 165-foot structure for its planned Science Learning Campus. The aquarium now calls it EECO, short for Ecosystem Exploration Craft & Observatory. EECO and the Rio Tinto Kennecott Plaza opened to guests in July 2020, and the structure serves as a campus landmark and visitor and event feature. The aquarium says 200 tons of steel were reused in the installation. (2018 acquisition announcement; EECO Structure.)
The aquarium’s announcement quoted U2 Tour Director Craig Evans: “Since the 360° Tour concluded in 2011, we’ve been vetting potential sites for the permanent placement of The Claw.” The documented Utah destination is for one system; the available sources do not establish where the other systems are now.
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Is the Claw really a $30 million stage?
The exact $30 million figure is not verified by the sources documenting the stage and its later acquisition. The aquarium confirmed acquiring a Claw but did not disclose a price. The 2011 report about the systems being offered for sale likewise does not establish a final sale price. So $30 million should be treated as an unconfirmed headline claim, not a settled construction cost or transaction amount.
How large was the touring structure?
Published figures describe different scopes and should not be treated as competing measurements of the same configuration:
| Figure | What it describes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 220 tons | Steel structure, excluding 90 tons of ballast and rigging loads | Stageco |
| About 310 tons | Approximate mass listed in SCIA’s engineering project data | SCIA |
| 400 tons | Fully loaded Claw, as reported by U2 and Live Nation | U2; Live Nation |
Stageco says it built three identical systems. Each required 38 trucks to transport, five days to erect and two days to dismantle. The company gives the structure’s width as 60 meters and depth as 44 meters; SCIA describes a central grid of about 28 meters and an antenna reaching 51 meters. SCIA also lists a 175-ton global capacity for sound, lighting and video equipment. These engineering figures help explain why the Claw was a touring system rather than simply a stage set.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How did the Claw become a Utah landmark?
U2 authorized the 360° project in October 2008, according to engineering firm SCIA. The design began with a sketch by stage designer Mark Fisher and his team; Stageco developed it into a modular structure suitable for touring. Live Nation says the tour opened in Barcelona on June 30, 2009. Its central, in-the-round design supported the show’s screens, audio and lighting while giving the audience a view from around the stage.
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The tour ended in Moncton, Canada, on July 30, 2011. U2’s official history records 110 shows and 7.1 million fans across 30 countries and five continents. The band says audiences called the circular structure “the Claw” and “the Spaceship”; in Houston, it was nicknamed the “Space Station.” (U2 tour history; Live Nation’s tour-end announcement.)
At the aquarium, the former concert structure has a different purpose: it anchors a science-learning campus rather than traveling from venue to venue. The aquarium describes EECO as 16 stories tall and also gives its height as 165 feet.
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