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Bono and The Edge onstage on U2's current 360° Tour (© A3464 Rainer Jensen/dpa/Corbis)

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U2's 360° Tour is a massive operation alright, and it wouldn't be an understatement to call it The Greatest Show On Earth - or anywhere else for that matter.

Named after a stage configuration called The Claw - a towering, robotic-looking structure said to be the largest (and costliest) concert setting in rock 'n' roll history, one that offers stadium audiences a panoramic view of the band - it's a long way from "three chords and the truth."

It's five hours before showtime inside the vast Giants Stadium. The field and seats of the 80,000 capacity venue are empty, but I'm suddenly jolted by an overwhelming blast of music produced by three musicians on stage who proceed to pump out the second-best version of City Of Blinding Lights I've ever heard.

Were they The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr, they might take their rendition all the way home, but the trio I'm listening to are their techs, Dallas Schoo, Stuart Morgan and Sam O' Sullivan, respectively.

Still, it's uncanny how much they sound like their bosses. Schoo switches guitars and tweaks some settings on Edge's pedalboard. A few more guitar changes - a Rickenbacker, a Music Rising Les Paul, a black Stratocaster - and song snatches follow (bits of Ticket To Ride, The Rolling Stones' Angie and - WTF? - Stairway To Heaven).

Then Schoo sees me and waves me up on stage. The affable Kentucky native greets me warmly as I tell him he and his fellow techs could form the greatest U2 tribute band around. Schoo laughs heartily. When I ask him if U2 are going to attempt to cover Zeppelin tonight, he laughs again and says, "No, no, no. That's just us having fun. We're testing sounds, but we get to play rock star while we work."

With 43 guitars and a truckload of electronic gear (for the complete, definitive list, see the end of this article) to look after, Schoo just might be the hardest working man in the business. While it's The Edge's job to make sonic magic happen nightly, Schoo is up at dawn, mapping out the agenda for each performance, plotting guitar changes and keeping score of ever-changing effect presets.

Oh, and don't forget changing strings on those guitars - on any given day, he's personally stringing 20 of them. "Most are a breeze," he says. "It only starts to feel like a chore when I'm working on a 12-string."

Dallas Schoo with The Edge's pedalboard, Giants Stadium, New Jersey. Photo: Joe Bosso

Schoo has been Edge's right-hand man since 1986. Having worked with everyone from Hall & Oates to James Taylor, he got a call to meet with U2 while they were finishing The Joshua Tree. But the offer to go on the road with the Irish band was a difficult one to accept. Schoo asked the iconic concert promoter Bill Graham for advice. Graham, who knew stars when he saw them, told Schoo, "These kids are going to be mega."

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