U2 are yet to make any profits from their huge 360° World Tour, despite having already performed 32 stadium shows in Europe and America.

The band's long-term manager Paul McGuinness explained that the band have mammoth overheads of $750,000 per show (around £470,000) and it won't be until the end of their North American leg this year before they go into the black.

The ambitious tour features an in-the-round stage complete with a giant claw which has to be reassembled and dismantled after at every show.

Speaking to Reuters, McGuinness said: “The engineering problems are enormous and costly. We had to find a way for it to be aesthetic and figure out a way of doing video.

“That cylindrical screen we have - that didn't exist, we had to get somebody to invent that. We had to design this four-legged thing (the claw) - and build three of them.”

Despite his predictions of making a profit this year, McGuinness is cautious about how much money they'll make in 2010.

He added: “(It won't) exactly (be) gravy, because whether we're playing or not, the overhead is about $750,000 daily. That's just to have the crew on payroll, to rent the trucks, all that. There's about 200 trucks.

"Each stage is 37 trucks, so you're up to nearly 120 there. And then the universal production is another 50-odd trucks, and there are merchandise trucks and catering trucks.”

(by Scott Colothan)