2023-12-09

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"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"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

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

"Drive My Car" (The Beatles) / "Love Me Tender" (Elvis Presley) / "Paint it Black" (Rolling Stones) / "Into the Mystic" (Van Morrison) / "Movin' On Up" (Primal Scream) / "Viva Las Vegas" (Elvis Presley) / "My Way" (Frank Sinatra) / "Moment of Surrender" (U2) / "Gloria" (U2) /

Show Details:

U2 are playing their 22nd show of 40 in total at the Las Vegas Sphere. Four additional shows, taking the total to 40, were announced earlier in the week and went on sale yesterday. The full listing of shows can be found in our U2 show archive. U2 are performing these shows without founding member, Larry Mullen Junior, who is missing due to surgery to repair damage suffered from years of drumming. A Dutch drummer, Bram van den Berg replaces Mullen at these shows in Las Vegas. Tonight U2 stick to the Rattle and Hum segment they’ve favoured since the start of these shows.

Opening “Even Better than the Real Thing” Bono jokes with the crowd, “Hello hello hello. How are you? I mean how are you? I really want to know. How are you? I think we’re all better for being with each other this Saturday night. So how are you?” The final “So how are you” gets a big response back from the audience. Going into “Mysterious Ways” Bono continues to talk to the crowd welcoming them to the building, “Welcome to the Sphere. What is this strange orb where science meets art in the pursuit of a good night out on a Saturday in Las Vegas?” A new T-shirt seen this week has the three symbols from the screen during the opening of “Mysterious Ways”.

Introducing “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World, Bono shares, “From the sublime to the ridiculous. That is our job this night. Oh yeah. It’s the simple pleasures, like taking a walk in the country, or down the Strip, bringing a balloon home to your missus, after a big night. You know what I mean.” Once again, Bono appears to have lost his keys as a door appears at the back of the stage, and asks The Edge and others if they’ve seen his keys. “I’ve got a balloon!” he shouts out as he rings the doorbell. No answer. He rings the doorbell again, and no answer. “Should I leave? I’ll leave the balloon.”

Tonight’s middle section sees the band return to Rattle and Hum again, but with one twist. After “All I Want is You”, “Desire” and “Angel of Harlem”, the band go on to play “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, a song they’ve played at these Sphere shows, but not since the October 25 show, and only played five times before this. (And yes, it’s a Rattle and Hum song too, check your albums, it is on there.)

Ahead of “Desire” Bono introduces the band, “not since 1978 have we played shows without Larry Mullen Junior…and it is only really right that I start by introducing the man who saved the day, the man who saved our arse when it was sticking quite far out the window, his name is already legend around here for anyone who can pronounce it, the flying-while-sitting Dutchman, that is Bram van den Berg.” Bono recycles from earlier shows for Adam (“Roman God, putting the Venue into the Venetian”) and The Edge (“not just a magician, an alchemist, turning our shite into gold”) but it is his description of himself that is interesting, “If you’re not talking about him, he ain’t listening. Man almighty. A giant in his own mind…Bono Vox.” It’s rare to hear Bono refer to the “Vox” portion of his adopted name these days.

For the end of the set, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is played with a long snippet of Primal Scream’s “Moving On Up” tonight. Bono starts the song but the audience quickly takes over the vocals on the song for the first few lines before Bono comes back. Bono lets the audience sing the first chorus as well. At the end of the song Bono shares, “That was for Mani”. Gary “Mani” Mounfield is the bassist for Primal Scream. Mani’s wife Imelda passed away from cancer and her funeral was held on Tuesday.

Ahead of “Beautiful Day” the band come to the front of the stage. “What would be traditional to do in a moment like this? It’s a French idea. Encore!” Bono thanks the crowd for coming from all over to attend the shows at Sphere. And the band start “Beautiful Day”. And Bono sings a bit of U2’s own “Gloria” during the end of the song. As “Glorify” starts to play on the PA, Bono sings along with that song as it plays, but does so off-mic.

Bono sings a line from The Beatles’ “Drive My Car” at the start of “The Fly” as he thanks Pauli the PSM. Pauli is using the song in his own set ahead of U2. “Love Me Tender” appears at the end of “One” and Bono includes “Paint it Black” during “Until the End of the World”. Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” finishes off “All I Want is You”. “Viva Las Vegas” and “My Way” are in their usual spots tonight at the end of “Love Is Blindness” and “Elevation”. Over the introduction of “Where the Streets Have No Name” Bono sings “Moment of Surrender”.

Tonight U2 took the stage at 8:30pm.

Initially five shows in Las Vegas were announced, quickly followed by seven more, and then five more taking us to the end of November. On May 12, the final shows for December were added, with all eight shows being available via a U2.com presale offer, where you could apply for the shows you were interested in. The offer ended on May 15. Face value on tickets range from $140.13 – $501.35 at four different price points for seats for face values. A General Admission floor will be priced at $267.88, and at each show there was be a (RED) Zone riser at the back of the GA area which held 50 people, priced at $600.00. Although these prices listed were face values, tickets in seated areas were subject to Platinum pricing in the general sale.

Officially Released Tracks