The Claw did not disappear when U2’s 360° Tour ended in July 2011. One of the touring stage systems was acquired by Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper, Utah, and repurposed as a permanent landmark called EECO (Ecosystem Exploration Craft & Observatory). The aquarium says EECO and its plaza opened to guests in July 2020. Available reporting does not establish where the other systems went, and the widely repeated $30 million cost figure is not verified.
What the Claw was
The 360° stage was a circular, in-the-round structure built to carry the band’s performance area, along with the screens, audio, and lighting that surrounded it. Fans gave it nicknames: “the Claw,” “the Spaceship,” and, in Houston, “the Space Station,” according to U2’s official site.
The design started as a sketch by stage designer Mark Fisher and his team. SCIA’s engineering account says U2 authorized the project in October 2008 and that Stageco engineered it as a modular touring system. Stageco says it built three identical touring systems, so the tour could run with one set of structures in transit while another was in use.
The $30 million figure
The headline number is not supported by the published accounts available for this question. The 2018 aquarium announcement confirms the acquisition but gives no price. Coverage from 2011 does not establish a completed sale price either. Treat “$30 million” as an unverified figure, not as the documented cost of the stage or its sale.
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The same caution applies to the claim that this was the most expensive concert stage ever built. No available source compares the 360° structure’s cost with other tour stages, so that superlative cannot be confirmed.
Timeline from design to Utah
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| October 2008 | U2 authorizes the 360° project. | SCIA engineering account |
| June 30, 2009 | Tour opens in Barcelona. | Live Nation |
| July 30, 2011 | Tour ends in Moncton, Canada, after 110 shows and more than 7.1 million fans over a 26-month run in 30 countries on five continents. | Live Nation release; U2 official site |
| October 19, 2011 | Live Design reports the systems will return to Stageco’s bases for maintenance and sale. | Live Design, Marian Sandberg |
| April 10, 2018 | Loveland Living Planet Aquarium announces it is acquiring one 165-foot Claw. | Aquarium announcement via PR Newswire |
| July 2020 | EECO and the Rio Tinto Kennecott Plaza open to guests. | Aquarium’s EECO page |
The post-tour plan in 2011
Live Design reported that the systems would go back to Stageco’s US and Belgium headquarters to be maintained and refreshed. The magazine quoted Stageco president Hedwig de Meyer: “The three systems are apparently for sale once the tour is finished.” That describes the plan at the time. It does not show what happened to each structure afterward.
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EECO in Draper, Utah
The 2018 acquisition
In April 2018, Loveland Living Planet Aquarium announced it was acquiring a 165-foot Claw for its planned Science Learning Campus. The aquarium 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.”
Reuse and opening
The structure is now called EECO, short for Ecosystem Exploration Craft & Observatory. It is a permanent installation, not a touring stage. The aquarium says the project reuses 200 tons of steel and describes the structure as 16 stories tall, while its announcement gave the height as 165 feet. EECO and the Rio Tinto Kennecott Plaza opened to guests in July 2020. Visiting terms and programming are set by the aquarium, and this article does not verify them.
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Weights and dimensions, by source
Published weights differ because each source describes a different scope. Quote a figure only with its label.
| Source | Figure | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Stageco project summary | 220 tons | Steel structure only. Excludes 90 tons of ballast and rigging loads. |
| SCIA project data | About 310 tons | Mass stated in SCIA’s project data for the system. |
| U2 and Live Nation (2011) | 400 tons | Fully loaded Claw, as described in tour materials. |
| Loveland Living Planet Aquarium (EECO page) | 200 tons | Steel reused in the EECO installation. Not a total weight for the structure. |
Stageco’s 220 tons plus 90 tons of ballast and rigging comes to 310 tons, the same figure SCIA gives. The published accounts do not say that the two numbers measure the same thing, so the match should not be treated as confirmed.
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SCIA’s project data also lists these dimensions and capacity:
- Central grid of about 28 m and antenna of about 51 m
- Width of about 60 m and depth of about 44 m
- Global capacity of 175 tons for sound, light, and video equipment
Stageco describes each system as requiring 38 trucks, five days to erect, and two days to dismantle.
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What remains unknown
- The other systems. Reporting confirms one system’s destination in Utah. It does not establish where the other touring systems are now, so claims that all Claws were sold, dismantled, or scrapped are not supported.
- The stage count. Stageco, Live Design, and the aquarium all describe three systems. A 2011 Guardian report said U2 owned four separate Claw stages. That figure has not been reconciled with the three-system count.
- The sale price. No published source gives a final purchase price for the aquarium’s system, or for any other system.
Sources
- U2 official site, “The Band” (tour history and statistics)
- Stageco, “U2 – 360° World Tour 2009-2011” (project summary)
- SCIA, “U2 Stage – 360° Tour” (engineering history and project data)
- Marian Sandberg, Live Design Online, “What Will Happen To The U2 360 Claw?” (October 19, 2011)
- Live Nation, “U2 360 – The Most Successful Tour in History Ends Tonight July 30th in Canada” (July 30, 2011)
- Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, acquisition announcement via PR Newswire (April 10, 2018)
- Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, “EECO Structure” (current page)
The 2011 Guardian report on the stage count is cited as reported, not as an independently verified figure.
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