2024-02-15

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"
"When Love Comes to Town"
"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
Pre-Recorded Intermission Song(s): "Viva Las Vegas" - Elvis Presley

Snippets of Other Songs Performed by U2:

"Drive My Car" (The Beatles) / "Let's Dance" (David Bowie) / "My Sweet Lord" (George Harrison) / "I Feel Love" (Donna Summer) / "Love Me Tender" (Elvis Presley) / "Sympathy For The Devil" (Rolling Stones) / "Paint it Black" (Rolling Stones) / "Red Rain" (Peter Gabriel) / "Landlady" (U2) / "Live Forever" (Oasis) / "America" (Simon and Garfunkel) / "Viva Las Vegas" (Elvis Presley) / "My Way" (Frank Sinatra) / "Moment of Surrender" (U2) / "Gloria" (U2) / "Blackbird" (The Beatles) /

Show Details:

This show is the 34th of 40 shows that U2 will play in total at Sphere in Las Vegas. Unlike most shows in the run this show is a Thursday night due to a scheduling change made necessary by the upcoming Presidents Day holiday. This is only the second show of the run held on a Thursday night.

This was one of the three final shows planned for Sphere, stopping the residency at 36. However, 4 additional shows have been added. Regardless many have decided to stick with their plans to see these shows and the week is one that’s sees hundreds of fans in Vegas for these shows. Tonight’s show sees the middle section made up of Rattle and Hum songs (“All I Want is You”, “Desire”, “When Love Comes to Town”, as well as U2’s cover of “Don’t Dream it’s Over”.

Bono heads into “Even Better than the Real Thing” speaking about this being a Thursday night, “Hello hello hello. How are you? Are you good? Not good enough. I wish to cancel Thursday nights, tonight could be any night we want it to be, could be a birthday, could be a wedding, I’m going to take New Year’s Eve personally.” Bono also does a short introduction to the band starting out the song, “Why are we? Who are we? I know who you are. You’re The Edge. I know who you are. You’re Adam. And him? Haven’t I seen you somewhere before, apart from last night? Wham bam thank you Bram!”

After a beautiful version of “One” Bono moves into the lyrics of “Love Me Tender”, one of many nods to Elvis in the early part of the show. On the screen, we’ve seen night after night an image from Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s wedding. She’s in the house to see the performance tonight, but it isn’t mentioned that she is there just yet.

Tonight during “Tryin’ to Throw My Arms Around the World” Bono shares “Lost me keys, lost me keys, have you seen my keys The Edge, Katrina have you seen my keys, Grace Carter have you seen my keys. (Grace Carter is a singer / songwriter who is present at the show, we aren’t sure who Katrina is.)

Noel Gallagher’s “Live Forever” done with Oasis is played over the end of “All I Want is You”, included because Noel Gallagher is at the show. “Desire” features the band introduction tonight. “The man behind me is too tall and too good looking for this freak show – but I could for this evening give you the type of contortionist, a musical contortionist, because you have sat and stood in for Larry Mullen Jr which is an impossible task, but you’ve made tonight possible sir! Bram van den Berg.” Bono continues with Adam in his sites, “Now, the ringmaster, the first man who believed we could take our show from town-to-town. The first showman in the band. On the bass…Adam Charles Clayton”. Up next The Edge? “Spotlight on one of the great trapeze artists of all time. Not because he attempts death-defying grandstanding acts from showbiz. No! But precisely because he does not. Ladies and Gentlemen, from the sky above, with us on the earth below and the sawdust, The Edge”. About himself, Bono finishes off with “I’m just going to introduce myself as a show pony for this evening.”

In the introduction to “When Love Comes to Town”, Bono shared, “This band wouldn’t be here without Elvis Presley. This building might not be here without Elvis Presley. Following the song he shares, “I’d like to talk about the King and Queen in Rock ‘n’ Roll. Because, Priscilla Presley is in the house, Elvis’s flame, there she is. If I were you I’d turn it on, it’s now a royal box, you might get a wild wave. Thank you we love You”. There is a spotlight placed on Priscilla while Bono talks, and she does come forward and waves to the crowd including to some fans at the back of the floor. To a friend, Priscilla shared, “It was an amazing show! Truly captivating! I do plan on going back soon, to see it again. Yes…it was that outstanding.”

Ahead of “Beautiful Day” Bono recognizes the crowd is an international one. “What a great night. What a great night. Some familiar faces around here. These tickets are too expensive. Do not buy them. Steal them!” and laughs.

“Drive My Car” appears over the start of “The Fly” after a quick thank you to Pauli the PSM. During “Mysterious Ways” Bono uses “Let’s Dance” (at the start) and “My Sweet Lord” (in the song) and “I Feel Love” (at the end). “One” ends with Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas” as a wedding photo appears of Elvis and Pricilla Presley. Presley attends tonight’s show. “Until the End of the World” includes “Sympathy for the Devil” as well as “Paint it Black” and includes “Red Rain” for Peter Gabriel who is also in the house tonight. During “Elevation” there is a shout-out to Peter Gabriel, “We believe in you, Peter Gabriel, yes we do.” is also later included during “Elevation”. “Landlady” is heard over the start of “Tryin to Throw Your House Around the World”. The next snippet is also for someone who is in the house, “Live Forever” is for Noel Gallagher. He also later shouts out “The Gallagher family, this is for you, you speak Spanish…” as the start of “Vertigo” is heard. “America” is a snippet at the end of “Don’t Dream it’s Over”. “Viva Las Vegas” is done at the end of “Love is Blindness” and “My Way” appears at the end of “Elevation”. “Moment of Surrender” appears at the start of “Where the Streets Have No Name” and both “Gloria” and “Blackbird” appear during the end of “Beautiful Day”.

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