2024-01-27

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"
"Sweetest Thing"
"Don't Dream It's Over"
"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) / "Love Me Tender" (Elvis Presley) / "Landlady" (U2) / "Into the Mystic" (Van Morrison) / "Viva Las Vegas" (Elvis Presley) / "My Way" (Frank Sinatra) / "Moment of Surrender" (U2) / "Everything I Do I Do It For You" (Bryan Adams) / "Gloria" (U2) / "Blackbird" (The Beatles) /

Show Details:

This is U2’s 27th show at Sphere in Las Vegas, and the second show in 2024. It is the second night of two back to back shows, seeing U2 return to the venue after an extended break for the holidays. The show is played without Larry Mullen, who is healing from surgeries to repair years of damage from drumming. Tonight U2 were once again joined onstage by Bram van den Berg, who will play the remainder of the shows at Sphere.

“Alright. Alright. Alright. Saturday Night!” And with that another show kicks off with “Zoo Station”. Like last night, Bono moves down from the main stage for “Until the End of the World” taking a lift until he is between the crowd at the front rail and the main stage. Instead of going directly to the crowd tonight he instead takes a cell phone from someone in the audience and sings into it from further back as he breaks into “Paint it Black”. He then films the audience between returning the phone, and then leans back into the crowd.

The set list tonight is the same as it was last night for the middle turn table section. Bono introduces the first song with a bit of a joke, “Something about this next song that I’ve never told anybody, well I put it in my book, available in bookstores for $28.99. I’ve never told anyone else…” The band start with “All I Want is You” which ends with a long snippet of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic”. During “All I Want is You” Bono shouts out to Terry Lawless, who is playing with these shows in the underworld, “Terry World 7-0!” Lawless is celebrating his birthday this week. Band introductions come next and are followed by “Desire”. Then “Sweetest Thing” shows up for a second time in these Vegas shows, having not been played since 2017 in Mexico City prior to last night. The middle section ends with a cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” again this evening. Bono was once again on keyboards for “Sweetest Thing” tonight.

Bono’s band introductions have a circus theme tonight, “If you’re going to run away with the circus this is quite the big top is it not?” he says looking around at the inside of Sphere. Bram is up first. “Let me start off by introducing you to the now world-famous elastic man, who it turns out can bend himself into any shape he wants, including Larry Mullen Junior, which is impossible, I know! His name is Bram van den Berg! Maybe don’t stand up!” Adam Clayton is next, “On my left, our very own tightrope walker, look at him without a…just going to say, look at our tightrope walker, without a safety net, as high as he’s ever been but completely sober. Sporting the most magnificent moustache, since Tom Selleck left this morning, on the bass, Adam Clayton!” The Edge is described next, “On my right, nothing else to say, at the circus and outside the circus, an alchemist, turning our shite into gold on a daily-basis, our card-playing, card-carrying genius, The Edge.” But Bono isn’t done, he has one more, “I forgot one other person, he might describe himself as the ringmaster, but tonight, he’s here to make you laugh and cry, your resident clown, Bono Vox!”

New graphics introduced for “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)” which see a series of small squares circle around Sphere in various colours making spiral effects, while the band is highlighted in a circular area behind the stage returns tonight.

Last night a boom camera could be seen filming during the encore on one side, and tonight it looks like they will be using it again, but on the other side of the stage. They are filming “Atomic City” for use at the Grammys on February 4. Filming was also done at sound checks ahead of the shows, and the day before the first show. Although Bono missed a couple of lyrics last night, tonight he nails the song.

Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do I Do it for You” is heard over the start of “With or Without You”, which we believe is the first time Bono has ever included a snippet of the song. Bryan Adams is at the show this evening. It was U2’s “The Fly” that unseated Adams at the top of the charts in the UK after a 16-week run at number one with “Everything I Do I Do It For You”. Bono thanks the crowd at the end of “With or Without You” – “We love you. Thank you for giving us such a great life. Would you sing out? Would you sing us home? OK! One more time!”

Bono works in “Drive my Car” at the end of “Zoo Station” tonight in a quick transition to “The Fly”. “One” is followed by “Love Me Tender” as it has throughout the shows in Vegas. “Viva Las Vegas” comes in at the end of “Love is Blindness”. “Elevation” ends with “My Way” and “Moment of Surrender” is heard over the opening of “Where the Streets Have No Name”. During “Beautiful Day” Bono includes a couple of verses of U2’s “Gloria” and a bit of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” tonight.

Irish musician Imelda May is at the show tonight as is actor, Henry Winkler. Vice-President of the US, Kamala Harris is also at the show with her husband, Douglas Emhoff. Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann were also at the show.

Tonight’s show has not had many streams from fans within during the show, so some details will be fleshed out over the next few days. During the Elevation tour, we often relied on phone calls and text messages during a show to piece together a basic set list and fill in the details later, and the show tonight was a reminder of those days. A big thank you Jesse for the text messages throughout the show so we could continue to report the show, and to Lisa and Alexandra for sharing some pieces we missed during the show!)

On October 19, 11 additional shows for 2024 at Sphere were announced. The first 11 announced shows, had a presale opportunity via U2.com which started right away, with requests due October 21, 2023 by 10pm. Vibee packages went on-sale immediately when the shows were announced. General sales started on October 25 with staggered start times. (11am PT for Jan. 26, 27; 12pm PT for Jan. 31, Feb. 02, 03; 1pm PT for Feb. 07, 09, 10; and 2pm PT for Feb. 15, 17, 18.) Ticket pricing at face value included GA Floor at $267.88, seats ranging from $140.13 to $501.35, and (RED) Zone tickets at $600. During all general sales, most tickets were raised in price due to Platinum pricing with the exception of Floor and (RED) Zone. On December 1, 2023, a special sale was held for local Las Vegas College and University students, offering GA tickets for $25 in-person at Sphere box office. VIP / Hotel and Ticket / Hotel packages were once again available via Vibee.

Officially Released Tracks