Tickets for the Australia and New Zealand shows in March have sold out in record time. Tickets went on sale yesterday for the first five shows to be announced on the '06 leg of the Vertigo Tour - and they sold out in minutes.

Sydney's 70,000 seat Telstra Stadium was sold out within an hour. In Auckland, 30,000 tickets for the March 17 show at the Ericcson Stadium were snapped up in fifteen minutes.

Word is that in six hours, more than 120,000 tickets were sold for the five shows at Auckland Ericsson Stadium (March 17); Brisbane Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre (March 21); Melbourne Telstra Dome (March 24); Adelaide AAMI Stadium (March 28) and Sydney Telstra Stadium (March 31).

'This is absolutely brilliant,' said Arthur Fogel, president of TNA International, worldwide producer of the tour. 'It's the biggest on sale day in Australia/New Zealand history!'

We're expecting more news on dates for 2006 - keep checking back on U2.Com.