Irish rockers U2 [ tickets ] will launch a 10-month world tour early next year, starting with a U.S. leg that kicks off in March.

According to the group's official website, band manager Paul McGuiness has confirmed that a March 1 tour launch in Florida is planned. A subsequent European tour will get underway in June, and the group will then return to North America in the fall of 2005 before finishing out the year with a run through Japan and Australia in November and December.

The world tour will comprise a total of 115 shows, though specific dates and venues are still being finalized, according to McGuiness. The itinerary won't surface until next month.

Tickets will begin hitting box offices in January, and paid members of U2.com will have access to exclusive ticket pre-sales, according to the group's website. More information is available at the site.

U2 is gearing up for the run to support its new album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," which landed in stores last month. The set features lead-off single "Vertigo" and follow-up cut "All Because of You."

On Monday, U2 was in its hometown of Dublin to shoot a music video for another cut from the album, "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own." Filming took place at the Gaiety Theatre. Frontman Bono wrote the song's lyrics in tribute to his late father, Bob Hewson, who passed away during the band's tour behind its 2000 album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind."

"It's a portrait of him," Bono told U2.com. "He was a great singer, a tenor, a working class Dublin guy who listened to the opera and conducted the stereo with my mother’s knitting needles. He just loved opera, so in the song, I hit one of those big tenor notes that he would have loved so much. I think he would have loved it, I hope so."

A full account of the video shoot is posted at the band's website.