2023-10-14

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"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"Love Rescue Me"
"Acrobat"
"So Cruel"
"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:

"Drive My Car" (The Beatles) / "I Feel Love" (Donna Summer) / "Love Me Tender" (Elvis Presley) / "Two Tribes" (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) / "Into the Mystic" (Van Morrison) / "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly) / "Movin' On Up" (Primal Scream) / "Viva Las Vegas" (Elvis Presley) / "My Way" (Frank Sinatra) / "Moment of Surrender" (U2) / "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (The Beatles) / "Blackbird" (The Beatles) / "Glorify" (U2 featuring Brittany Howard) /

Show Details:

Tonight is the band’s eighth night at the Las Vegas Sphere, where they are doing 25 shows between now and the end of the year. 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.

Tonight U2 continue to use the mid-show Rattle and Hum songs for the most part in the set list, however, “Angel of Harlem” is dropped in favour of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. “All I Want is You”, “Desire” and “Love Rescue Me” are still featured. The band also continue with the small change made last night, “Acrobat” now opens the second round of Achtung Baby songs, having been switched in the running order for “So Cruel”. The show performed matches the set list.

“Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around the World” sees the balloon brought out, but it is attached to the stage, and does not involve any fan being brought up on stage tonight. Bono shares, “I’m not quite sure of the symbolism of the balloon” and then talks about the hard work and how many people it takes to make the balloon trick work. Bono then thanks the team behind the Sphere “for letting us make a show of ourselves”. Speaking of the venue, and how it’s been a great gift to the band, “It could be a cave, it can be a club, Berlin in the ’90s, an Elvis mega-church, later it will be a cathedral of the natural world” but Bono shares it would just be “manufactured light” without the “thing that happens with U2 and our audience”.

Introducing “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” Bono invites the audience to sing the song with them, and shares “I’m not going to talk about the awfulness in some peoples minds. I don’t want to talk about what our friends are going through. I do want to say that the next song was inspired by the Psalms of David, and the poetry of Allen Ginsberg and his poem Kaddish.”

During the show it appeared Bram was having some difficulties with his cymbals. One was taken off and put back on before “Love is Blindness” and they were swapped out before the encore as well. The video piece for “Ultra Violet” continues to be built, now with very colourful vertical lines over the cloud backing, looking like speed lines, or rainfall as the atomic clouds move across the venue.

Introducing the band Bono had some fun, sharing “Last night I asked him to stand up, I’m not ever going to do that again” as he introduced Bram. He followed that with “This is the man with the dirtiest mind and the cleanest hands…Lord Adam Clayton on the bass.” The Edge is introduced as “a man who’s first name is a definite article, and who’s second name has been ruined by razor blade advertisments” and talking about himself Bono shared he’s “One of the humblest people I know, very thoughtful, kind to his friends, children and animals, and a positive danger to himself.”

“Drive My Car” makes a brief appearance in “The Fly”. “I Feel Love” shows up in “Mysterious Ways”. The segue between “One” and “Until the End of the World” is filled with “Love Me Tender” and “Until the End of the World” also gets a “Two Tribes” snippet. “Into the Mystic” appears in “All I Want is You” and “Not Fade Away” features in “Desire”. “Movin’ On Up” finishes off “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “Viva Las Vegas” finishes up “Love is Blindness” and “My Way” ends “Elevation”. “Where the Streets Have No Name” opens with “Moment of Surrender” and Bono includes a snippet of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Blackbird” during “Beautiful Day”. As he left the stage Bono was also heard singing along to “Glorify” which was playing over the PA system, it is an unreleased song, featuring a female vocalist that U2 have been using after the show each night. Tonight he does not sing “Glorify” using the mic.

Noel Gallagher was at the show for the second night in a row. U2 producer, Jacknife Lee was also in attendance this evening.

Many thanks to Matkin, Mark, Harth, and Tim for their assistance with this article.

Initially only the first five shows in Las Vegas were announced. An additional seven shows were quickly added on April 25. (October 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, and 25 were the newly announced shows.) The opportunity to apply for pre-sale tickets opened immediately on April 24, with the initial show announcement. These new shows were part of the same pre-sale, and those who had already applied were given a chance to change to these new dates if desired. 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 on sale, 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