U2 closes out first leg of groundbreaking ‘U2: UV Achtung Baby’ Las Vegas residency
NOVEMBER 7TH 2023 | by EMMA SCHOORS
Photos by Emma Schoors
“It is a cave, it’s a club in Berlin in the 90’s, it’s an Elvis mega chapel,” Bono says, looking around the newly-built Sphere with reverence. “It’s an Elvis cathedral–” he corrects himself, tilting his head back to admire the 300 and 400 sections, “where love and luck fight it out on a daily basis. There’s some big fights going on tonight, but we are ready to fall in love.”
“I think Adam Clayton is ready for some flirtation,” he continues, walking assuredly over to the U2 bassist with a smile, his leather jacket opened just enough to reveal a cross necklace dangling from his neck. The band’s 1991 record Achtung Baby is the focus of their new Las Vegas residency, commenced on Sep. 29 and continuing into Feb. 2024 due to great demand. The venue is connected to The Venetian byway of a bridge, located on the eastmost section of the Las Vegas Strip. From the outside, the Sphere is daunting and decidedly bright, flashing advertisements and themed emoji faces at all hours. Below is a look at the venue from the top of Linq’s observation wheel.
The entertainment megacenter is four years and $3.58 billion dollars in the making. Its spherical exterior features a staggering 580,000 sq ft of LED displays, and its interior boasts the largest LED screen in the world, employing a multitude of state of the art technologies like wave field synthesis, 4D physical effects, and 16k resolution screens. It is the most expensive entertainment venue in the city, and the largest spherical structure in the world.
The Irish rockers were approached with an offer to open the venue in 2021. Whether they wanted to was another thing – it was hard to envision how the Zoo TV tour could differ much thematically, given current events. “When we came to Achtung Baby, we [wondered]: how do you update the Zoo TV concept?” Clayton told Esquire this year. “Because all the predictions of Zoo TV have come to pass: fake news, media overload, the MTV generation, wars fought on television with camera systems that could follow a missile down the street, as it was in the Iraq-Kuwait war at that time. So we just thought: we can’t take this out [on the road].” Rehashing old concepts was a fear shared by designers and the band alike, but they decided to follow through with an anniversary run by doubling down on concepts that hadn’t been replicated as frequently.
Opened alongside the Sphere is Zoo Station, a shop inside the Palazzo (Venetian’s sister property) offering a photo gallery, photo ops, and a theater showing various U2 documentaries and live shows. The store is located next to the red LOVE sign on the first floor, and the theater is upstairs on the second floor. The lines are long and the merch shop is snug, but they offer a good selection of exclusive items and a well-stocked wall of vinyl.
During the pre-show, the interior of the Sphere displays a Pantheon-esque design, leading out to a digital nighttime sky. An animated bird flies by occasionally, ducking into crevices of the structure and flying out of the building. Pauli “the PSM” Lovejoy opens the show inside of a glowing car, DJing snippets of songs like Amy Winehouse’s cover of The Zutons’ “Valerie,” New Order’s “Blue Monday,” and Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You.” He drives to the center of the GA pit to the tune of The Beatles’ “Drive My Car,” and continues the set with longer versions of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Gary Numan’s “Cars.”
Lovejoy’s set culminates in a dimming of the room, at which time U2 takes the stage to a remix of “Lemon,” followed by Brian Eno’s “Choral Intro.” Ambient versions play in the lobby as well, with “So Cruel” and “One” being two of the songs currently unavailable elsewhere. The first song of the night is “Zoo Station,” which makes the first lyric sung, “I’m ready for the laughing gas.” Inspired by Church of the Light, the screen bursts into quadrants forming a cross, letting blinding light take the room over much like it would a chapel.
As Bono spins around on an oscillating podium centerstage, Edge matches in his all-black attire, making their first impression one closely resembling the thematic darkness and uncanny swagger of Achtung Baby. The opening track bleeds apocalyptic in a way far different from thirty years ago. Still, when “The Fly” brings about flashing texts like “Everything you know is wrong,” and “Watch more TV,” it feels timely. Las Vegas imagery takes over for “Even Better Than The Real Thing,” featuring both clips from the real Elvis, and Austin Butler’s portrayal of him. This was the first time during the show I was confused rather than starstruck. So much all at once, I thought, and not all of it fit together in a way I could compute.
Once “One” began, I settled on a loose, somewhat naive theory about the show at large – it’s supposed to be too much at times, and too little at times. The New York Times said as much in this review, calling the show “a futile ramble.” Committing to dozens of shows spanning months in a city that seems to forfeit morality for profit contradicts U2’s mission statement, right? Well, what if that’s precisely why they did it? What if anything else would be preaching to the choir?
Speaking about the male ego and its need to be popped while walking a gigantic balloon during “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” resonates deeper in a place, as production designer Willie Williams said, where people go “because they’ve seen it on Instagram.” It acts as an opportunity for the band to offer something immersive and confrontational to a city who Williams described as both cynical and dark.
Bono introduces the band as F1 racing drivers: drummer Bram van den Berg as Max Verstappen, Clayton as “the most elegant man on the circuit” Lewis Hamilton, Edge as “the Monaco model” Charles Leclerc, and himself as Daniel Ricciardo. As the race, held just weeks from now on the Strip, approaches, he speaks jokingly to the concept: “It’s a sport where very tidy, lean, mean men and some extraordinary women climb onto rockets and try to stay on Earth and not achieve orbit, something like that,” he laughs. “A little like rock and roll, actually… less dangerous.”
The first ‘turntable’ section of the set features “All I Want Is You,” injected with a softly-delivered verse or two of Van Morrison’s “Into The Mystic.” After a monologue in praise of B.B King and a performance of “When Love Comes To Town,” they stay on the subject with “Love Rescue Me.” Right back to the sleepy baby; Bono asks if we should wake it, and the crowd of nearly 18,000 agrees. Speaking in present tense doesn’t do much good if you’re planning on attending when they return next month, though, as the set varies slightly from night to night. You’re in for a unique experience each time should you choose to purchase tickets to multiple shows.
The second Achtung Baby runthrough demands more of the audience. It’s four relative deep cuts (‘deep cut’ in this case meaning anything with less widespread recognition than something like “With Or Without You”), so “Acrobat” falls partially on deaf ears. The screens are mostly cut out of use at this point, too, drawing an air of confusion and, at times, boredom. A crowd once chaperoned by colorful imagery is suddenly asked to intake the music as it is. This stretch is necessary, as the last handful of songs are all hits, all accompanied by mind-blowing visuals.
At this point all sections are stood, watching as the screens fill back up with tantalizing, clear images of vast desert skies and flying creatures. The band nails “Atomic City” to the backdrop of The Strip, and ends the show with “Beautiful Day,” before gathering together onstage and thanking the crowd. While drummer Larry Mullen takes a leave of absence to take care of his health, van den Berg (“one of the four great things out of Holland,” as Bono puts it) fills in for him, never missing a beat. Bono’s voice is strong and brimmed with conviction, Clayton’s presence is steady and consistent, and Edge’s passion and vigor hasn’t waned a bit.
Considering U2’s history of selling out arenas, it feels special to experience them in such a relatively small place. Their 2019 Rose Bowl shows alone drew 120,000+ people, so to be one of under 20,000, under a roof for once, is magical. The setlist keeps you on your toes, and its focus on Achtung Baby fits wonderfully with the sleek modernity of the venue. Opened just a month ago and already garnering worldwide acclaim, Sphere is truly a one-of-a-kind entertainment vessel. U2 is the perfect band to induct audiences into its visual, sonic, and atmospheric grandness.
Check out the “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere” trailer below.