U2 were initially “prejudiced” about playing in Las Vegas.
The ‘One’ hitmakers played a 40-date residency, ‘U2:UV Achtung Baby Live’, at new venue The Sphere from September 2023 to March this year and though they were excited to “jump into” the shows at the innovative space, bassist Adam Clayton admitted they initially had reservations.
He told Record Collector magazine: “It was Bono who started to hear about this project called The Sphere happening in Las Vegas and in many ways, one’s prejudices against that were rife.
“It was like, ‘Oh really, you know, Las Vegas?’
“After a while though, we looked into it properly and dived into the tech.
“The screen is effectively 16k and covers three acres – that’s an unbelievable amount of LEDs bashed onto a wall.
“It started to look interesting, so we said, OK, we’re gonna jump into this.”
And the band relished being able to “throw out the rule book” to offer fans something different at the shows.
Adam said: “It does take people to a different place emotionally. We’re all a little conditioned on how a show works.
“It’s a big opening. You get 20 minutes of uptempo and then it starts to slow down and gets a bit emotional and intimate, and then it’ll sort of start ramping up again…
“So we threw out the rule book and it was somewhat like when you’re performing in a theatre or a musical show where the scenery and the technology give you that emotional context for what you’re doing.”