MONTREAL - Construction crews at the Hippodrome are erecting seating for 80,000 people to watch one of the largest bands in the world.
U2 is coming to Montreal in July for a two-day stay at Blue Bonnets.
The seating for the concerts is temporary. The framework for the grandstands is in place, but the actual seating will only be ready a few days before the concerts take place.
Trizart-Alliance is re-using the decking from the bleachers built for the Grand Prix.
"The decking which is the, where you walk on and the seating and the guard rail and all that will be dismantled by a huge team right after the Grand Prix and carried from [St. Helene's] Island to here," said Pierre Lemieux.
When the concerts are over, the decking and grandstands will be removed and returned to local suppliers.
It's an effort to make the concert as environmentally friendly as possible, even though setting up and dismantling the stands and stage for a two-day performance requires a huge amount of energy and resources.
Not just the music
Both shows will be preceded by massive tailgate parties at the former racetrack.
The tens of thousands of people heading to the shows are being highly encouraged to take public transit -- even though the area is normally used as a parking lot for drivers to switch to the metro system.
The STM says it will add extra buses and metro cars on both days of the weekend in question, and will display U2's image on transit tickets, buses, and in metro stations.
Every ticket for both shows sold out long ago.
The concerts were originally scheduled for 2010, but had to be rescheduled when U2 singer Bono had emergency back surgery in May 2010.
