Watch U2 Play 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' for First Time Since 1987 at Las Vegas Sphere

Declan Gallagher
·2 min read
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U2 added even more hype to their residency at the fabled (and remarkably lucrative) Las Vegas Sphere last Friday, performing a rare live version of their cover of Darlene Love’s holiday standard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” U2 has only sung the song live once before, and that was almost exactly 36 years ago.

The last time U2 performed the track was on December 20, 1987, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ on the last leg of their Joshua Tree tour. The month before, they had released a video for the song, which was also included on the December ‘87 charity album A Very Special Christmas featuring U2’s cover alongside Run-D.M.C.’s "Christmas in Hollies" and a Eurythmics version of "Winter Wonderland." Other than that, the tune has been hard to come by, and all but impossible to hear live.

U2’s addition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” to last week’s Sphere concert surprised nearly everyone in the audience. According to setlist.fm, the song was rehearsed during soundcheck but not officially included on that night’s setlist. Fans of both the rare track and U2’s Sphere residency poured into the video’s YouTube comments.

“Best event I have ever been to,” wrote user @eddiee2750. “They genuinely seem to be having a wonderful time. I wish everyone could see this show just once.”

One eagle-eyed U2 fan, writing under the username @sallypechstein6785, contested that it was the first time the band had performed the song since ‘87. “They actually DID play a nice snippet of this fabulous song at the Rose Garden in Portland on 12/19/05,” they recalled. “It was an amazing show…the last stop on the third leg of the Vertigo Tour. They were so exhausted and so filled with love [and] gratitude. Bono re-arranged the words a bit [to say], ‘Baby I'm comin' home!’”

U2’s Sphere residency began in September and was supposed to end on December 16, but it was recently extended until March 2024. After U2, Phish will be the next band in what the Sphere hopes is a long line of artists to take on a residency.