U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere kicked off Friday night
Last night (Fri, Sept 29th), U2 lit up the Sphere stage with a mind-blowing opening night of their highly-anticipated U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere shows, reinventing the live music experience with the launch of the world’s most cutting-edge venue. Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton with Bram van den Berg provided fans with a fully immersive experience featuring top-of-the-line technology, celebrating the band’s acclaimed 1991 album Achtung Baby, as well as its accompanying industry-defining Zoo TV Tour which broke the mold in 1991.
The band utilized every part of Sphere’s LED screen – the world’s largest and highest-resolution – into an awe-inspiring gallery that showcased bespoke art from renowned artists including Es Devlin, John Gerrard, Marco Brambilla, and Industrial Light & Magic; all while performing on a minimalist Brian Eno-inspired turntable stage.
As promised, the band performed all 12 songs from Achtung Baby in the main set, playing some for the first time in decades. After the eight songs, they stripped it down for acoustic versions of four songs from the largely overlooked Rattle & Hum period. “All I Want Is You” was dedicated to drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., who allowed his bandmates to play the Sphere shows without him as he recovers from surgery. “Desire” was dedicated to Paul McCartney while “Love Rescue Me” honored the late Jimmy Buffett.
They finished the Achtung songs before returning with an encore consisting of “Elevation,” “Vertigo,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “With Or Without You” and “Beautiful Day.” Per usual with Bono and Co, the group blended snippets of covers, such as Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” and their own “Moment of Surrender” into the set.
During the encore, the band also performed their new song “Atomic City,” which is an homage to the magnetic spirit of 70’s post-punk with a nod to Blondie, whose pioneering work with Giorgio Moroder inspired and influenced the band. Atomic City is itself a 1950s nickname for Las Vegas from a time when nuclear fascination swept the nation and the city promoted itself as a center of atomic tourism due to its proximity to the Nevada Test Site.
The band celebrated this major live music milestone with fans from all over the world and VIP attendees including Adam Scott, Andre Agassi, Ava DuVernay, Bobby Shriver, Bryan Cranston, Chelsea Clinton, Chris Blackwell, Connie Britton, Dakota Fanning, Darren Aronofsky, Diplo, Dr. Dre, Elizabeth Banks, Flava Flav, Gayle King, Guy Oseary, Henrik Lundqvist, Jane Buffet, Jane Seymour, Jason Bateman, Jeff Bezos, Jimmy Iovine, Jimmy Kimmel, John Starks, Jon Hamm, Josh Duhamel, Katy Perry, Lars Ulrich, Lebron James, Luke Wilson, Oprah, Orlando Bloom, Oscar De La Hoya, Mario Lopez, Maria Sharapova, Martin Garrix, Matt Damon, Michael Rapino, Neil Patrick Harris, Paul McCartney, Paul McGuinness, Sheryl Sandberg, Skylar Astin, Snoop Dogg, Tom Schanley, Zane Lowe and more.
The 25-show residency runs through December.
Set List:
- Zoo Station with a cappella intro
- The Fly
- Even Better Than the Real Thing
- Mysterious Ways
- One with Prince’s Purple Rain & Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender snippets
- Until the End of the World
- Who’s Gonna Ride Your Ride Horses
- Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World
- All I Want Is You (Acoustic)
- Desire with The Beatles Love Me Do snippet (Acoustic)
- Angel of Harlem with Into the Mystic & Dancing in the Moonlight (It’s Caught Me in its Spotlight) snippets (Acoustic)
- Love Rescue Me (Acoustic)
- So Cruel
- Acrobat with Hall of Mirrors & So Long, Farewell snippets
- Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
- Love is Blindness with Viva Las Vegas snippet
- Elevation
- Atomic City
- Vertigo
- Where the Streets Have No Name with Moment of Surrender & All You Need is Love snippets
- With or Without You
- Beautiful Day with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band & Blackbird snippets
