U2 reportedly launching Las Vegas residency in 2023

Residency will be at the new MSG Sphere

U2 is reportedly launching a Las Vegas residency in 2023 at the new MSG Sphere. Multiple sources tell Billboard the iconic group will open the high-tech arena with a series of non consecutive dates over several months, although a timeline has not been shared.

The band’s management declined to comment on the plans.

Once complete, the $1.8 billion venue — owned and operated by the Madison Square Garden Company — will be the largest spherical structure in the world with an exterior that features a fully programmable 580,000 square foot LED display, the largest LED screen on Earth. Inside, the venue will house the world’s highest resolution LED screen – a 160,000 square foot display plane that will wrap up, over, and behind the audience at a resolution over 100 times that of a high-definition television. To meet the unique demands of producing immersive visuals at this scale, which requires an extraordinary level of detail and sharpness, MSG Entertainment has assembled innovative leaders in production technology and immersive media to develop its own custom production tools with capabilities far exceeding existing systems.

The MSG Sphere is expected to open in November 2023 when the FIA Formula One World Championship comes to Nevada. It’s expected to hold an audience of 20,000 standing room only or 17,500 seated fans with 23 VIP booths.

The band’s last show was in December 2019 when it wrapped its The Joshua Tree Tour at its first-ever show in Mumbai.

Rumors indicate the band has several projects in the works and are expected to tour next year.

The Irish rockers will be recognized with Kennedy Center Honors this November. They’ll join Gladys Knight, Amy Grant and others in Washington DC that will air at a later date on CBS.

This year, U2 is celebrating its 40th anniversary. For Record Store Day 2022, they released a limited edition vinyl reissue of A Celebration — the band’s seventh single originally released in March 1982 — as a four track EP containing two previously unreleased recordings.

Last fall, U2 celebrated the 30th anniversary of its seminal album, Achtung Baby. Special standard and deluxe vinyl editions were released in November followed by a 50-track digital box set that included Uber Remixes, Unter Remixes, B-Sides with 22 tracks never-before available digitally.

Most recently, U2 released “Your Song Saved My Life,” from the Sing 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Last spring, Bono and The Edge joined Dutch DJ Martin Garrix for “We Are The People,” the official UEFA Euro 2020 song.

The group’s last album was 2017’s Songs of Experience that followed with a massive tour. U2 last trekked the world with The Joshua Tree 2019 Tour that wrapped in mid-December 2019.

Star Wars director JJ Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions are currently developing a scripted series about U2 that’s in the early stages of development with Netflix and Warner Bros. Television. The untitled series will be penned by Oscar-nominated Anthony McCarten, who wrote the 2018 Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. The band is expected to be involved and are sanctioning the project, although details are currently under wraps.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn