I’ve seen a lot of shows and have attended numerous concert venues in my time as a music enthusiast, but on Saturday I experienced something that will be pretty difficult to rival. That my friends, would be the brand new Sphere located in the heart of Las Vegas. As soon as the legendary Irish rock band U2 was announced as the venue’s opening residency, I knew I had to find a way to attend a show.
I know they get a lot of flack, but U2 holds a very dear special place in my heart. While it being a genuinely awesome track, Vertigo was one of the first rock songs I remember hearing as a little kid. I remember revisiting it years later as I got older, thus prompting me to go through most of their discography and falling in love with records such as The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.
Upon entering Sphere, I was welcomed by this futuristic atmosphere that felt like something out of a movie almost. It felt like you were transported into this brand new realm that no other live music venue has done before. Another thing that was astonishing was that the hallways to get to your seat felt completely sound proof and even further immersed me.
Although I had seen U2 once prior to this show, I was reminded of why I love them so much as soon as they took the stage and went into the opening song, Zoo Station. Achtung Baby still remains one of my favorite albums of all time, so getting to hear this record in its entirety was an incredible experience considering I wasn’t even close to being alive during the original Zoo TV Tour. Additionally, having now experiencing the venue in its totality, this show was a perfect choice to showcase what Sphere has to offer in terms of the visuals and immersiveness.
There were multiple moments during the show where I genuinely could not tell what was real and what wasn’t which was really something considering I had watched countless videos leading up to the show. The band used their visuals to near perfection and honestly I’m really curious to see what other artists will do in future performance and what visuals and illusions they choose to play around with.
While U2 took complete advantage of state of the art technology at their disposal, they also took the time to shy away from the bombastic approach, and gave the audience an intimate portion of the show which saw guitarist The Edge using only an acoustic guitar. This surprisingly was one of my favorite parts of the whole show. They broke out tunes such as All I Want Is You, Desire, Sweetest Thing, and even an unexpectedly awesome cover of Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over. The latter showed everyone in attendance that Bono still has it at 63 years old.
One of the biggest things I was looking forward to going into this show was seeing Bram van den Berg, the fill-in for Larry Mullen Jr. during this residency. Mullen is absent because of a back surgery recovery and it’s only the second time the band has performed without one of the four core members. When I saw last saw U2 in Philadelphia in the summer of 2018, Mullen put on an outstanding performance and further reassured that the band is an absolute powerhouse with Mullen, Clayton, The Edge, and Bono all on stage. However, Bram van den Berg was a force of nature on the kit Saturday night, and I can totally see why U2 hired him for the gig.
Another things that was really cool to see was how much U2 loves the Sphere. They seem to be really proud to be hosting the venue’s first residency and show their love for it off every chance they get. The band’s single to promote the residency, Atomic City didn’t have the greatest first impression on me. While it has some ridiculous and corny lyrics, the overall sound is very U2-esque and hearing it live with the incredible backdrop of the Las Vegas strip was a sight for sore eyes.
Atomic City was featured in an absolute stunning encore which featured my favorite performances of the evening. My first U2 show I attended in Philadelphia in 2018 featured zero tracks from The Joshua Tree, so when I got to hear the iconic intro to Where the Streets Have No Name, I just about almost shed a tear. The encore was just about everything you could ask for if you’re a U2 fan and also brought their spectacle to a brand new height that brought my jaw to the floor.
U2 created a spectacle like none other with this show they put together and having gone now I can confidently say that the Sphere is going to usher in a new era of live music. However, the ticket prices are a bit steep and the fact that it’s in the heart of Las Vegas doesn’t help the cost either. With all of that being said, if it’s in your budget and you can make it out to a show, I can’t recommend this venue enough. I’m really interested to see what the next formal residencies are going to be with the exception of the iconic jam band Phish who will be the next performer after U2 leaves the Sphere, playing four dates spanning April 18-21.
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