Pop Music / ROCK / COUNTRY / R&R; / RAP / LATIN / JAZZ : Bono Voyage! U2 to Tour U.S. in ’97

Ready for a really exciting concert season? A summer that could feature two of the top acts of the last decade coming back from sabbaticals to play massive stadium shows?

Well, relax for a while. That season will be 1997.

U2 is already planning an elaborate follow-up to its 1992 “Zoo TV” stadium trek for the U.S., and talk continues of Guns N’ Roses’ coming out of hibernation for its first tour since ’92.

GNR’s plans are still merely a matter of speculation, but the U2 tour is a virtual certainty. The group is currently in Dublin with producer Brian Eno working on a new album that could be out by this summer. Plans currently call for the quartet to start touring Europe in the fall, not reaching these shores until the spring of ’97.

However, the band has already solicited and received bids from promoters and agencies to produce the U.S. tour, with Creative Artists Agency, International Creative Management and East Coast promoter Metropolitan Entertainment among those in the running. It’s believed that U2 is looking for as much as $100 million in financing for a show expected to be as lavish as its last, effects-laden tour.

“That financing has got to be lined up way in advance,” said one concert tour packager who asked not to be named, explaining why the plans are being made so early. “And a tour like this takes months to design.”