Get on your boots! Only one more sleep till U2 in Winnipeg.

The claw has finally touched down at Winnipeg’s Canadinns Stadium and the band followed close behind. It seems that this weekend before the massive U2 360 Degree concert the Dublin quartet are filming a documentary at the Burton Cummings theatre.

Arriving Friday evening to a Irish drizzle of rain Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton greeted fans who had staked out ” The Burt” theatre in hopes of meeting the band.

Adam Clayton Meets fans at the Burt (Winnipeg Free Press)

Lead Guitar, The Edge presses the flesh with wet but excited fans Friday afternoon. (Winnipeg Free Press)

Bono signs an autograph for an eager fan. (Winnipeg Free Press)

My own reconnaissance took my camera to the stadium where the massive stage nicknamed The Claw is taking shape. Let me tell any of you who have only seen video or pictures of this monstrosity that it is easily the largest stage set up that has ever seen fit to land in Manitoba. With a footprint of approximately 40 yards square on the football field and reaching a height that matches the top rows of the stadium upper deck seating there will not be a single poor seat in the house when the show begins.

The Claw takes form behind a tight band of security.

Look, No guards here!

My seat for the concert of the year!

Apparently Bono is also very interested in a little project that rivals his own stage set up for sheer scale. The rising Canadian Museum for Human Rights at the forks, has been put on his agenda as a must see item. No doubt the spearhead of the museum project Gail Asper is dying to have a chat with the U2 front man about the project and it’s fund-raising arm.

Construction continues on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

The Museum that is being constructed at The Forks complex will highlight the successes and failures of humanity in its ongoing struggle to find a noble path through the struggles of life. Genocides and conflict, rights movements and hero’s will be featured inside the massive “Glass Mountain” structure on the banks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers.

With a limited time in Winnipeg before they move on to the next stop on their world tour I would like to personally wish the boys a hearty welcome and hope they enjoy Winnipeg as much as Winnipeg is going to enjoy them.

Sláinte!

Related articles

• SCENE: U2 fan on hunt for Bono (cbc.ca)
• U2 gear moves into Burton Cummings Theatre (cbc.ca)

Building Izzys Dream: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights

You wouldn’t think it but right now there is a mountain rising into the prairie sky.  Israel Asper’s dream is coming true.

Israel (Izzy) Asper, the one time head of the Canwest media empire wanted to build a shining beacon to the world and he wanted it in Winnipeg.  Izzy, during his life, was not only a modern day media mogul, but also a philanthropist of the highest order.

What is taking shape at The Forks in Winnipeg, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights.  A 300 Million Dollar mountain of glass and steel rising out of the prairie soil will serve as a reminder to those around the globe of the atrocities that have and continue to take place.  The 265,000 square foot facility to literally be made in the shape of a mountain will showcase to the world the past and present failings, and triumphs of humanity.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights