U2 Launch New Era of Live Music at Stunning Sphere Opening Concert in Las Vegas
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The opening night of Sphere in Las Vegas represented a great many things. For James Dolan and his business partners, it was an opportunity to introduce their $2 billion investment to the world. For the live music industry, it was a chance to see if giant concerts could work outside of the stadiums and arenas that have housed them going back to the days of Beatlemania. And for Las Vegas, it was a test run of a grand new attraction that should bring tourists to the city for years to come.
But for U2, this residency was something very different. This was their opportunity to reboot the band after years of inactivity and new albums that failed to generate much heat, welcome replacement drummer Bram Van Den Berg into the fold while Larry Mullen Jr. recovers from back surgery, and find a way forward by revisiting their greatest triumph of the past, Achtung Baby, in its totality.
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By any measurement, it was a stunning success. The Sphere somehow managed to live up to years of hype with its dazzling 16K resolution screen that transported 18,600 fans from the stars in the night sky to a surreal collage of Vegas images, the arid deserts of Nevada, and the information overload of Zoo TV. And the sound wasn’t the sludgy, sonic assault you typically get at an arena or stadium concert. It is clear, crisp, and pristine, making earplugs completely unnecessary. As advertised, this was a quantum leap forward for concerts.
None of this was obvious when you first entered the venue. With the screens off, it felt like you were walking into the world’s largest IMAX theater. (There are no seats behind the stage and truly no bad views from any angle.) A DJ in a neon car that drove around the general admission floor warmed up the crowd by spinning tunes like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” and “Run the World (Girls),” though his attempt to get the crowd singing along to “American Pie” fell hilariously flat.
Around 8:30 PM, the lights dimmed and U2 walked onto the compact stage, which is shaped like a record player. It was initially jarring to see them minus Larry Mullen Jr. since they haven’t played a show without him since they were teenagers back in the Seventies. But once Van Den Berg kicked into the familiar opening beat of “Zoo Station,” it was clear he’d done his homework. He nailed every intricacy of the original recording.
At this point, they only hinted at the potential of the screen by projecting giant shadows of Bono, the Edge, and Adam Clayton. It wasn’t until the tune wrapped, when Bono put on his Fly sunglasses and phrases like “Everything You Know Is Wrong” began flashing rapid-fire, that the ludicrous scope of the place became apparent. It’s impossible to even take in everything at once since the screen stretches far beyond anyone’s scope of vision. All you can do is take the ride and absorb as much as possible.
The second song, “The Fly,” was the most nakedly nostalgic moment of the night since the images were straight from Zoo TV, and Bono swaggered around the stage as his Fly alter-ego like the past 30 years never happened. They could have stayed in this mode for the rest of the night and made many old-time fans quite happy, but it would have been an enormous leap backwards.
For “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” a trippy collage of Vegas images appeared, displaying everything from archival Elvis Presley clips to scenes out of Johnny Depp’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Nicolas Cage’s Leaving Las Vegas. They whirled by so quickly that it actually felt like the stage itself was moving up towards the ceiling.
“What a fancy pad,” Bono said at the end. “Elvis has definitely not left this building. It’s an Elvis chapel. It’s an Elvis cathedral. That’s right. And tonight, the entrance to this cathedral is a password: flirtation. And later, we’re going to get married, okay?”
A playful “Mysterious Ways” transitioned into “One,” and a wise decision to turn off the screen and let the anthem alone fill up the room. The apocalyptic “Until the End of the World” was paired with storm clouds and lightning, and the band’s first live rendition of “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” in 30 years featured the image of a balloon tied to a large white string that Bono pulled around the stage. Midway through, he invited a very excited female fan onto the stage to swing from the balloon and sing along with him.
It seemed like they were going to keep powering through the album until they hit the end, but this wasn’t the plan. “We need to take a break from Achtung Baby,” Bono said. “We need to take a break from all that intensity just to try and know each other. Achtung Baby had a difficult birth, though an easy conception. Bringing up children is the great adventure and discovering that they’re the ones bringing you up.”
“I’ve never told anyone this,” he continued. “But this song is an attempt to write a wedding song from a woman’s point of view.”
It was a stripped-down “All I Want Is You” that kicked off a four-song Rattle & Hum mini-set that included “Desire,” “Angel of Harlem,” and “Love Rescue Me,” which Bono dedicated to Jimmy Buffett and his family. Midway through, Bono finally introduced Bram Van Den Berg after joking around all night that he didn’t know his name. “Not since October 1978 have we played a show without Larry Mullen,” he said. “I’d like to introduce you to the only man we’d ask to stand…sit in his shoes. It’s his birthday! It’s Bram Van Den Berg! Do you have anything to say these people.”
“Let there be no mistake,” said the drummer in his only words of the evening. “There is only one Larry Mullen Jr.” The crowd roared with approval.
The screens mostly stayed dark for the Rattle & Hum segment, focusing the attention once again completely on the band. “Every night on this turntable,” Bono said, “we’re going to play songs from different albums of ours.” (This wasn’t announced in advance, but it’s a wonderful chance to bring in songs from their entire catalog. Let’s hope they find time for a Pop night. It’s long overdue.)
The first “So Cruel” since 1992 brought the show back to Achtung Baby, and it was followed by fiery renditions of “Acrobat” and “Ultraviolet (Light My Way).” Actual ultraviolet lights ricocheted around the room during the latter song. They wrapped up the main set with “Love Is Blindness” and a soaring Edge guitar solo every bit as majestic as the one he recorded 30 years ago.
After a main set where every single song was from either 1988 or 1991, they came back out and moved into the 2000s with “Elevation,” their new song “Atomic City,” and “Vertigo.” Enormous images of the Las Vegas skyline filled the screens throughout much of this, and the buildings slowly dissolved into nothing, leaving behind nothing but empty desert. This could only mean it was time for selections from The Joshua Tree.
“Where the Streets Have No Name” brought the entire audience up on their feet, and they stayed up for a sublime “With or Without You,” and images of the water filling up the desert sand with a giant blue ball at the center, much like the one we were in. “I’ll tell you who is one hard worker,” Bono said at the end. “James Dolan. Thank you for the Sphere. You’re one mad bastard. Thank you for this wondrous place.”
It was the start of a long list of thank-yous that also included Irving Azoff, Jeffrey Azoff, Arthur Fogel, Michael Rapino, and former U2 managers Paul McGuinness and Guy Oseary, who were both in the crowd. Paul McCartney was also somewhere in the building, and Bono honored him throughout the night by sprinkling bits of “Love Me Do,” “Blackbird,” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” into the set. “The Macca is in our presence,” Bono said. “It’s like having Mozart. Your songs will be played in a thousand years, dude. Just know that we love you, and we’ve stolen a lot of your songs.”
The night closed out with “Beautiful Day” and colorful images of creatures from every corner of the animal kingdom crammed together like they were about to exit Noah’s Ark. (“And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth/After the flood all the colors came out.”)
This was the first of 25 shows that U2 are playing at the Sphere from now until December 16. There have been hints they might extend the residency until early next year, and no future headlines have been announced, through Variety notes that Harry Styles might be one of them.
Whatever happens going forward, it’s hard to imagine a better proof of concept for Sphere than this U2 show. It’s almost painful to imagine going back to a dumpy sports arena for a show after experiencing something like this.
At some point in the evening, Paul McCartney probably started imagining his own Sphere residency. If that ever happens, Dolan will be one big step closer to earning back his $2 billion. In the meantime, let’s hope that U2 takes some of this energy into the studio and cut a new record. It’s fun to dabble in the past for a few weeks, especially at a place like Sphere, but the world could use another great U2 album. They proved the doubters wrong with Achtung Baby all those years ago, and they could do it again now.
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