That picture above is not of a diner skill crane waiting to be filled with Chucky dolls and boxes of Dots; it’s actually the design for U2’s European tour, which bows tonight in Barcelona. Called–naturally–The Claw, it’s designed to open up sightlines to normally obstructed-view seats and help U2 pack ‘em in even more every night. It might also have the residual effect of making concertgoers feel like Bono, the Edge, Larry, and Adam are their very own rewards for ponying up enough cash to get past arena security!

“The Claw is all to do with how you can play outdoors without using a proscenium stage with a big bank of speakers on the left and right,” he said in a recent interview. “Every outdoor stage show you’ve ever seen uses that configuration. This idea we’re now working on will mean more people can fit into the shows, there will be better sight lines and everyone will be closer to the action.”

It is estimated The Claw’s design will open up an additional 20,000 seats per stadium – practically ensuring U2 a shot at breaking box-office records for this run.

And get this: there’s more than one Claw. In fact, there’s three of them. Each steel structure measures 164 feet high and requires 180 trucks to transport it from venue to venue. The reason for multiple stages is that while U2 are playing in one city, a second one is being erected at another venue while a third is being transported yet somewhere else.

Which only adds to the game-of-chance feel! Somewhere, Kanye West is plotting his next move.

U2’s new stage set is The Claw [Music Radar]