U2 Live on YouTube

Rock giants U2 will be broadcasting tonight’s concert at the Rose Bowl in a global webcast on YouTube. You can view the concert on the official U2 channel, which will be available in 16 countries.

Tonight’s concert will be an acid test for streaming live video on YouTube. In the past, Google (who owns YouTube) has said they were not interested in live streaming because of the cost. In recent months, they have begun experimenting with live streams of an Obama press conference and the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco.

The concert begins tonight at 8:30 PM PDT. That’s pretty late for those of you on the east coast, and if you’re in Europe, prepare to wake up in the wee hours of the morning. In reality, choosing to webcast a west coast concert was a shrewd choice, as the time alone will reduce the audience a bit. I like U2, and I’ll be tuning in to see how well the stream holds up under stress. It will be interesting to see how many people are able to watch simultaneously.