2024-02-17

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"
"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:

"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) / "Landlady" (U2) / "Into the Mystic" (Van Morrison) / "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 35th of 40 shows that U2 will play in total at Sphere in Las Vegas. This shows, unlike other shows this week falls on a regular night for them. The band and crew work early in the day on some new elements for the capture on film of these show (full filming will take place over the two shows next weekend.)

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.

Ahead of “Even Better than the Real Thing” Bono does his day of the week routine, “Hello! How are you? It’s Saturday night in Las Vegas at the Sphere. In Las Vegas it can be any night you want, but we’ll take Saturday night, shall we? And we’ll make Saturday night, shall we? So how are you? Where are we? I mean really. Who are we? Yeah! You’re the Edge. Not you. You’re Adam Clayton. And you feel very familiar. Wham bam thank you Bram!” The crowd is loud and loving it. Heading into “Mysterious Ways” Bono does a Paul McCartney imitation as he shows off Sphere and says, “Look where we go to work!”

“What have we got here? I am holding onto a balloon. Believing that its going to get me home. I am holding on to a balloon believing the balloon is going to make everything alright…” shares Bono before singing a snippet of U2’s own “Landlady” over the introduction to “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World”. He’s still looking for his keys and unable to find them. “Lost my keys! The Edge, do you know where my keys might be? Dave? Do you know where my keys? Dennis? Catherine? Anyone got my keys?” Not finding his keys, Bono rings the bell. “I got a balloon.” Ringing again, he still gets no response, “Shall i leave the balloon. Alright, I’ll leave the balloon. Just to remind my love, I gave her…”

After “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” Bono tells a few stories, addressing Ali who is in the audience, and speaking with The Edge. “My missus Ali, and your missus, and the girls, went out and met a lot of clever, hard-working people last night, they went out on the town last night. They ended up at a place called Thunder from Down Under. I said it was some sort of meteorlogical museum. Or something like that. Morleigh the same? She did wake up. It was strange for a science exhibition to come home with a T-shirt that said ,‘Thunder Squad’” The Edge shares, “Morleigh, the same!” Bono continues, “On the back of the T-shirt it said, ‘There’s crack in the outback’” He then turns to Ali in the crowd, and says “I can say that! I can say that…” It’s an amusing moment in the show. “Ali didn’t come home last night until very late, and I noticed, she, YOU, seemed to need me even less this morning when I woke up. So I guess the balloon was burst.” (For those unfamiliar with Thunder from Down Under, it is a male dance performance, where clothing is removed.)

“All I Want is You” is dedicated to “every girls night out, and the hard working girls on the U2 crew.” The song is ended with an extended piece of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” tonight. After the song he dedicates it “For all the women in our lives. Actually, for all the women in Adam’s life. About 17,000 of them here!” Band introductions are up next. “Not since October 1978 have we played a show without Larry Mullen Junior, who we send our love to this evening. It is only right that I start by introducing the man who really saved the day, and in fact saved our arse, saved our arses, as they were right out the window. The flying while seated Dutchman who is Bram van den Berg.” Bram starts the music for “Desire” while introductions continue. “Now, ladies! Ladies! And some gentlemen! On my left, a Greek god. Pop quiz: Name a Greek god with a magnificent moustache? Name a Greek god, any Greek god with a moustache! There is one. It’s Adam Clayton on the bass.” The Edge is next, “I’m running out of connective tissue of my introductions, so I’m just going to stick with not just a magician in a town full of them, an actual alchemist, turning our shite into gold on a daily basis, our card-playing, card-carrying genius, the Edge.” Bono also gives himself an intro, “at the center of the action, if you’re not talking about him, he ain’t listening, a giant in his own mind, mouth Almighty, Bono Vox!” During the performance, Bono shares they may be a bit rough tonight, because “while the girls were out…” without going into further details.

“Angel of Harlem” and “Don’t Dream it’s Over” fill out the acoustic set list. Tonight, Bono gets political, something we’ve seen little of during these shows in Las Vegas. “Our last busk was in a subway in Kyiv, in Ukraine, just a few months before Putin invaded Ukraine. Edge and I got to stand with some people in that city in Ukraine, as they stood in a train station that was a converted bomb shelter. We got to stand with some of the people of Ukraine as they waited for the train to arrive with the rest of the free world on it. We were proud to busk on that occasion. Busked in more ways than one. They are still waiting for some on that train to arrive. America you are so generous but lets get the people what they need.”

“Next week it will be two years since Putin invaded, trying to destroy the hard-won freedoms found, 41 million people. Next it will be Poland. Next it will be Lithuania. East Germany who knows where this man will or won’t go. These people, freedom is not just a word in a song, for these people freedom is the most important word in the world. So important that Ukrainians are fighting and dying for it. So important that Alexi Navalny chose to give his up. Apparently Putin would never ever say his name. So I thought tonight, the free people, from here, the people who believe in freedom, we must say his name. Not just remember it. Say it. Alexi Navalny.” Bono starts the chant, saying his name twice before letting the crowd take over, and coming in later several times to get the crowd started again. Navalny’s death was announced earlier in the week. Bono goes directly from chanting his name into “Don’t Dream it’s Over” from the chant. Bono finishes the song with some lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel’s “America”.

Intermission tonight includes “Viva Las Vegas” into the new remix of “Elevation” that U2 have been using to take the stage. Bono marks one of the special guests in the audience during “Elevation” singing, “I believe in you, Ashley Judd, yes we do!” “Moment of Surrender” sees Bono on the ground of the stage singing the lyrics as the music for “Where the Streets Have No Name” rises, and the sun rises on the screens in the desert. Throughout the encore, the crowd is going crazy, with fans throwing themselves into the music, and the band returning the energy.

“With or Without You” ends with a thank you to the fans, “Let’s take care of each other. Thank you for taking care of our band for so long. We love you. Will you sing us out of here?” Bono is met with a loud chorus of voices, and exchanges looks with the Edge as if surprised by the response. They stand and listen to the crowd cheering after the song. “The sound. It’s a sound, we love to hear.” Bono continues to listen before “be careful because we’ll milk it! We are indeed at journeys end, thank you for getting us to our destination, those of you who came a long distance, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the trouble.” Bono does a shout out to Sian Procter, an astronaut who is at the show tonight. “Some have come from space! That’s right. Sian Procter is in the house. I wrote a love letter to her in space, she wrote me one back. Give it up for Sian Procter, great, great, extraordinary woman, a scientist. She’s everything!” The band then end the show with “Beautiful Day” which includes U2’s own “Gloria” and ends with “Blackbird”. Along the rail, there are many tears, it was a pretty extraordinary night, and the connection between band and fans was strong. The band seem bowled over by the love shown this evening, and it looks as if Bram has tears in his eyes as he exits the stage.

Bono works in several songs throughout the night. He skips his usual “Drive My Car” snippet but does thank Pauli the PSM in the usual spot. Both “My Sweet Lord” and “I Feel Love” make an appearance in “Mysterious Ways”. “Love Me Tender” is in its usual spot after “One” tonight. Both “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Paint it Black” appear during “Until the End of the World”. “Landlady” is heard over the start of “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World”. “Viva Las Vegas” finishes out “Love is Blindness”. “My Way” has its usual place at the end of “Elevation”. “Glorify” is played over the PA, however, Bono does not sing along with the song tonight as he exits the show.

Celebrities spotted at the show include radio DJ and Apple Music Journalist Zane Lowe, as well as actress Ashley Judd, and astronaut Sian Proctor. Proctor shared on X, “U2 has been my favorite band for 35 years!! I first saw them perform Joshua Tree in Rochester, NY on October 11, 1987 when I was 17 years old. Then in 2021, when they told me I had three phone calls from space, I asked if I could talk with Bono and my good friends Kyle, Ryan, and Brantley (who was U2’s photographer) made it happen. I talked to Bono for 20 minutes while orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour. Definitely one of my favorite space moments! And now I got to see them perform at the Sphere Vegas and it was mind blowing!! Then combine that with a shout out by Bono as the band plays Beautiful Day!! I feel so fortunate to be part of the inspiration4x crew and to be able to share my Space2inspire story and #EarthLight with so many. Big thank you to Bono and U2 for using their beautiful “space” to inspire those around them and beyond!” The granddaughter of Elvis Presley, Riley Keough, was also at the show this evening.

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