2023-10-05

Sphere, Las Vegas, NV

Set List of Show:

Main Set:

"Zoo Station"
"The Fly"
"Even Better Than the Real Thing"
"Mysterious Ways"
"One"
"Until the End of the World"
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"
"Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World"
"All I Want is You"
"Desire"
"Angel of Harlem"
"Love Rescue Me"
"So Cruel"
"Acrobat"
"Ultra Violet (Light My Way)"
"Love is Blindness"

Encore:

"Elevation"
"Atomic City"
"Vertigo"
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
"With or Without You"
"Beautiful Day"

Additional Music

Pre-Recorded Intro Song: "Lemon" (Remix) - U2
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "Glorify" - U2 featuring Brittany Howard
Pre-Recorded Exit Song: "What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

"Black Dog" (Led Zeppelin) / "Love Me Tender" (Elvis Presley) / "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" (Edith Piaf) / "Walk On the Wild Side" (Lou Reed) / "Suspicious Minds" (Elvis Presley) / "Viva Las Vegas" (Elvis Presley) / "My Way" (Frank Sinatra) / "Moment of Surrender" (U2) / "All You Need is Love" (The Beatles) / "What A Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong) /

Show Details:

U2 return for the third night of their 25 show run at Sphere, a venue that U2 opened the previous night in Las Vegas. U2 are the first band to perform in this new venue. The full listing of shows can be found in our show archive. U2 are performing these shows without founding member Larry Mullen Junior, due to back surgery, and the following recovery. A Dutch drummer, Bram van den Berg replaces Mullen at these shows in Las Vegas. In the program for the shows, Larry Mullen writes, “I can’t tell you how very grateful I am to Bram for deputising. Just remember not to get too comfy up there! Rest assured, I’m busy dealing with all things physical and making progress towards hopefully getting back and seeing everyone soon.”

Tonight’s show got started with a bang. DJ Pauli the PSM, Atomic MC, played a selection of songs to get the crowd started, getting a dance party going on the floor as the Trabant moved him through the audience.

Early in the set Bono pulls up a fan from France, and holds her hand as he walks her around the stage. Later he has AJ help her into a swing and pushes her out toward the audience. The smile on her face is infectious, and has the crowd cheering her on.

Bram van den Berg, who is filling in for an injured Larry Mullen joked with Bono when given a microphone before getting serious, “I’m very very very honored and very proud to sit at Larry Mullen’s drum stool, and to thank all U2 fans for sticking up with me. You’re very kind. I know it’s a big deal”

There are new graphics tonight on the screens in a variety of places including a cloud of purple and pink colours that moves across the screen during “Ultra Violet”. The show tonight is the same set list as the first two shows at the venue last week, with no changes to main songs. The band are relaxed and appear to be having fun.

At the show tonight Bono mentions Edge’s brother Dik is present. Dik was one of the early members of the band, leaving for the Virgin Prunes when U2 took the name U2. Edge’s son Levi was also at the show, as was his wife Morleigh. Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, Javier Bardem, and Ben Affleck were all in attendance.

Along with many shorter snippets Bono included a few longer pieces into the show tonight. Between “One” and “Until the End of the World” was a long segue using Elvis’ “Love Me Tender”. “Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed gets a nice addition at the end of “All I Want is You” but Bono hasn’t quite figured out how to end that one. “Suspicious Minds” gets a long snippet at the end of “Angel of Harlem” and “My Way” comes in during “Elevation”.

Smaller snippets include “Black Dog” during “Even Better than the Real Thing”, “Non Je Ne Regretted Rien” during “Until the End of the World”. “Moment of Surrender” is heard at the start of “Streets” which finished with “All You Need I’d Love” and “Beautiful Day” wraps up with a bit of “What A Wonderful World.”

The venue itself has seating for 17,500 people, and can accommodate 20,000 people with a general admission area in use. The sphere has nine levels in total, and the inner performance area is a sphere shape, with programmable LED screens covering the sides and top of the performance area. The venue is a dome inside and outside. Not only will people be surrounded by images, there are also features such as scent and wind, a haptic system which will allow users to feel the sound, and targeted sound in the venue. The outside of the sphere is also covered in LED screens and can be used by the performers inside. U2 are the first act to perform in this new venue. The venue is also being used to show a film, Postcard from Earth which opens a few days after U2’s debut at the Sphere.

The October 5 show was among the first five shows announced. The shows were officially teased in a press release on February 10, and later announced via an ad during the Super Bowl. The first five dates were announced on April 24, with a opportunity to apply for presale tickets opening immediately with the announcement. Ticket face value ranged from $140.13 – $501.35 at four different price points for seats. A General Admission floor was priced at $267.88, and at each show there was be a (RED) Zone riser at the back of the GA area which will hold 50 people, priced at $600.00. When the ticket sale for verified fans opened on Thursday April 27, Platinum pricing was in effect for the seats in the venue, with most tickets being priced well beyond these original prices. The general onsale, on Friday April 28 was announced to be cancelled by Ticketmaster due to demand, but later the verified fan restrictions were lifted at that time anyway.

Officially Released Tracks