HispanicBusiness

Bono and the boys are good for business -- and the upshot extends well beyond record companies and promoters.

With Irish rock quartet U2 set to play to 96,000 people at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, business in the city, and even further east, is rattling and humming like it's a Rose Bowl game, business leaders said.

"It's huge ... this is off the charts in terms of the buzz -- our phones have been ringing off the hook," said Darryl Dunn, general manager for the Rose Bowl.

And the impact is beginning to turn into dollars at local businesses -- mainly hotels, many of which are full up.

"There has been high demand surrounding this concert," said Elsa Schelin, director of public relations for the 380-room Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, which is booked to capacity for this weekend.

Employees taking reservations say that about 80 percent of the rooms are booked for U2, Schelin said.

And those on a waiting list are quickly taking the rooms left by cancellations.

The story was similar in Monrovia at the Doubletree Hotel, where the phone has been ringing with U2 fans coming from everywhere from San Diego to Jamaica.

Out of 171 rooms, 100 have been booked on Saturday and Sunday night, he said. Most are for U2, he said, adding that last year at this time, the hotel had around 65 rooms booked.

"This is really good, not only for us ... but it will only increase food and beverage revenues," said Luis Luis Plascencia, general manager at the Doubletree Monrovia, who said he was a big U2 fan.

But it's not just hotels that are banking on Bono. So are restaurants, bars and ticket agencies.

Sales for seats have been brisk over at Night On The Town Tickets in Covina. Tickets have been ranging between $175 and $1,400, said Mark Moyens, a manager at the ticket and memorabilia store.

Interest in the Rose Bowl show is even greater this year, Moyens said, because it's the band's only California appearance.

That's if you want to see the real U2. But another tribute band called Hollywood U2 is helping to drum up business at The Vault Bar & Grill in Pasadena.

That's where manager Alexander Dias is expecting 500 customers to show up to see the tribute band play beginning at 3 p.m.

Many of those customers will likely be going to the real U2 show, Dias said.

"It's really good for us," Dias said, adding that U2's visit will be a shot in the arm for local businesses that cater to fans.

Paul Little, president and CEO of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

Little hoped U2's show will put Pasadena on the map as a place where mega bands will consider playing more often -- perhaps even U2 again, he said.

You'd think local record shops might even see a spike in interest. But the band's records already sell well at many of them, managers and owners said.

But Steve Bicksler, owner of Penny Lane, had an idea he was pretty confident might help business.

He extended an invitation to the band to play a show at the Colorado Boulevard record shop.

"We'd have to talk it over," he said, jokingly. "But we might be open to that."