U2 actually wants fans to hold up their phones in front of their faces for the Songs of Experience tour

After rehearsing outside of Montreal, U2’s Songs of Experience tour opens in Tulsa next week with promises of new augmented reality features for the show.

Last night, the SoE app–the U2 AR eXPERIENCE app–was released. When fans hold up their phones at the show, images will be triggered via a 100-foot-long LED screen running along the arena floor as the band walks onstage. Then more AR stuff will manifest itself.

From the app description:

Heading to U2’s eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE 2018 Tour? Download this app to experience a live rock show like never before as the tour’s 100′ long LED wall triggers a specially curated audio visual experience emerging through your mobile device.

Real-time Augmented Reality before your eyes… and thousands of others at the show.

Remember – and share – these breathtaking moments by capturing photos on your device.

With the U2 eXPERIENCE app you can :

– eXPERIENCE exclusive in-app sound and visuals, in real time both in the run-up to the show and in the opening song.
– Capture and share images of your U2 eXPERIENCE across your social networks.

– Pair your app with the ‘Songs of Experience’ cover image… and get a taste of what’s coming up in the show. [Larry says the album cover fractures and blows out. Then a 3D Bono sings for a minute.]

Nothing to stop this being the best tour ever…

The latest and greatest in software, hardware, and menswear..!#U2 #U2eiTour #U2eXPERIENCE #u2experienceapp@U2 @U2Community pic.twitter.com/1DKhc7zNnY

— Harry Kantas (@harrykantas) April 24, 2018

The app is available for iOS for people using the iPhone 6 or better and Android 7+.

U2songs.com has this to add:

According to the U2.com post, as well the app description for U2 eXPERIENCE (click here for a screenshot), there are two more use cases, one during the run-up to the show, and one during the opening song. We also know that the AR in both of these cases will be triggered by the LED screen. We can safely assume that it will be a set of images that will trigger the AR objects again on your device, the same way the SoE cover image triggered the first one.

We managed to take a peek into the future, and some of the trigger images for the shows, along with their AR elements. We will not spoil the eXPERIENCE for you, but we can give you a nice little teaser of what to expect, come May 2nd, at the BOK Center in Tulsa, OK.

Their full story is here.