U2 planning to 'start small' with new tour next year, says The Edge

Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said, "The tour is still in the planning stage so it's too early to describe what it will be like.  I think we will start small. We certainly can't get any bigger than the last tour."

The band is currently gearing up for the hard copy release of 'Songs of Innocence' on October 13, and are already deep in prep for the follow-up, 'Songs of Experience' although no release date has been set.

U2's last tour, U2 360°0 was launched in support of their 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon, and ran for almost two years.  It became the highest-grossing concert tour in history with ticket sales totally over €700m.

However, the tour itself was enormous and since the audience completely surrounded the stage on all sides it necessitated the building of a giant four-legged 'claw' above the stage at each and every venue to house the sound system and screen.

The next tour is unlikely to be on such a grand scale.  Bono recently said, “[We want to] try and play the O2 [arena] and places like that, more indoors than outdoors this time, but we’ll see where it takes us.  You know what it’s like now, it’s like a whole city goes on the road with us.”

It is not known whether they will release 'Songs of Experience' before, during, or after the tour.

“[It] will be released when it’s ready,” the Edge told Rolling Stone. “I hope it won’t take nearly as long [as the five it took for 'Songs of Innocence].”