*Picture of U2 with Lady Gaga in Las Vegas at The Sphere, Oct 25, 2023 taken by your intrepid blogger
The scheme was hatched a mere three weeks ago. And as most good ideas and/or schemes go around here it was the Rock Chick’s idea. Ever since U2 announced they were doing a residency in Vegas at the brand new, mind blowing Sphere and performing one of my favorite LPs, Achtung Baby, in it’s entirety… I’ve been glancing at tickets. But it was always some distant idea. It was the Rock Chick who had the idea of going out to Vegas on a Wednesday to see U2 and then see either Billy Idol or The Cult on Friday (we chose Billy Idol… we’d already seen the Cult twice on the Under The Midnight Sun tour). She’d researched all the shows going down this week and it was determined this was when we should pull the trigger. What can I say, she’s a Woman Of Action. Three nights in Vegas and two rock n roll shows… how could I resist? And yes, I realized how fortunate I am to be able to pull something like this off…
Ah, U2. It’s impossible to overstate how much this band meant to many of us back in the late 80s through… really the early 2000s. My first U2 album was War, purchased on vinyl. I loved “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “New Years Day” and especially “Two Hearts Beat As One.” I bought that album in college when it first came out, and while that makes me feel like an early adopter, it was their third album. I quickly also purchased Boy, their great debut album (but then we love debut albums here). U2’s music over the last… let’s say… 15 years has brought out a lot of disappointment amongst the “faithful” fans. I chalk that up to the enormity of what this band meant to all of us those many years ago. They were earnest and said things no other bands said. Most fans have disliked their recent albums but I always find songs to like on U2 albums even No Line On The Horizon, Songs Of Innocence, or Songs Of Experience. I tend to ignore Songs of Surrender as a Bono vanity project. Sometimes its hard for a band that’s been around for a long time to combat people’s expectations.
Despite their recent critical downturn, I doubt there are many bands who could withstand the spectacle of Las Vegas’ Sphere. My god, what a venue. The entire outside lights up. During the day it was a huge jack-o-lantern in honor of Halloween. When we got inside, through the traffic and pedestrians pouring into the place, it was like being aboard a spaceship. It’s an extraordinary venue. I think an ordinary band would be drowned in that spectacle. Not U2. When I got to my seat the background looked like a wall of riveted steel plates… like I was in a giant, round submarine. The stage was a stylized turntable. As the band played, graphics often slide downward behind them which was, at first, a little disorienting. I felt like I was falling backwards. It’s pretty amazing visually, and completely transported me.
And again, only a band like U2 could probably not get lost in all that visual spectacle. But they had to bring some great material. What better album to perform entirely than the monumental Achtung Baby? I saw U2 perform the Joshua Tree in it’s entirety a few years ago but Achtung will always hold a special place in my heart. That was the first tour I saw U2 live – in St. Louis at old Busch Stadium – on the Zoo TV Tour and I was in the fourth row. While Wednesday’s performance was amazing, nothing will match that September 1992 concert, the best show I’ve ever seen. So if you’re going to perform in a state of the art venue, bring a classic album. And Achtung Baby always felt like a rebirth for the band and for me and what I was experiencing in my life at the time…
U2 strutted out onto the turntable stage to a recorded version of “Lemon.” While the Edge manned the guitar and Adam Clayton was on bass, Larry Mullen, Jr was not in attendance. Bram van Der Berg was sitting in for Larry… Bono, early in the show, asked “Who are you? Who are we? I know you and you,” pointing to the Edge and Adam, but then turning to the drummer, he said, “Who the fuck are you?” It was a funny moment. The lead off track, like that one in 1992 in St Louis, was “Zoo Station.” What a great opener. The Rock Chick felt they didn’t cleave close enough to the studio version and while it didn’t hit me as hard as 1992, I still thought it was a promising lead off.
From there they took us through the first part of the album. Whatever they were singing, while he’s been dead for almost 50 years, Elvis Presley was a big presence. His image floated by behind the band several times and Bono broke into Elvis tunes during the coda of several songs. What can I say, the King is always going to hang over any Vegas act. “Even Better Than The Real Thing” was an absolute highlight. They slowed it to a crawl in the middle and then brought it back up. “One” is still the emotional heart of any U2 show… Bono sang “Love Me Tender” on the end. While I thought “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” was awesome – and a song I’d forgotten about – the Rock Chick once again thought it was sloppy.
After “Throw Your Arms” Bono announced that it was time to pause Achtung Baby, “to turn the record over.” He announced the next song – the first in a mini acoustic set mid-show – as a song he wrote from a woman’s point of view. Although he mentioned, “he’d never sang it with a woman.” Onto the stage struts none other than Lady Gaga in shoes that would kill a mere mortal human. Suddenly she’s duetting on “All I Want Is You” with Edge on acoustic guitar. I won’t lie… tears in my eyes. They broke into a song, “Shallow” from Lady Gaga’s catalog that I was unfamiliar with. What can I say, I didn’t see A Star Is Born. I felt the Kris Kristofferson version was definitive. Gaga stayed on for a stirring version of “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and again… more tears. Amazing performance that dumb luck and the Rock Chick’s persistence allowed me to witness.
After Gaga split the acoustic set continued with a great version of “Desire.” I hope something gets released from these shows… And then they broke into a song that Bob Dylan co wrote that I assumed only I knew, “Love Rescue Me.” It was awesome. I hadn’t ever heard that song live. Stripped down and acoustic it was perfect. After that they turned back to Achtung Baby and a stretch of four of their best deep tracks: “Acrobat,” “So Cruel” which was an absolute killer even to the Rock Chick, “Ultraviolet Light (Light My Way)” and finally, a personal favorite “Love Is Blindness” with a searing Edge guitar solo. All during these tracks the graphics in back were mind blowing. It was a close to rock n roll nirvana as I could get… or so I thought.
The encore took me even higher. “Elevation” simply rocked. They broke into a snippet of “My Way,” another Elvis Presley adjacent track. Then it was new track “Atomic City” which really came across live. “Vertigo” killed as usual. Then Bono briefly broke into another deep track I dig, “Moment Of Surrender” which then morphed into “Where The Streets Have No Name,” and again… tears… “Niagra Falls, Franky Angel…” (If I may quote Scrooged). “With Or Without You” was a beautiful moment. Mellow, but so powerful, like an elegy. One of my all time favorites, from an album that was out when I met the Rock Chick, “Beautiful Day” ended the show. And indeed, it had been a beautiful day and evening.
U2 came out and just delivered. They weren’t overwhelmed by the graphics or the big screens at all. At the heart of it all is a band playing wonderful music. A communal evening of celebration and love. Bono said outside the world is chaos but here tonight it’s all about love, and it really rang true. I’m hoping with the band re connecting with that classic Achtung Baby and the Edge playing all these great riffs, that maybe U2 will turn back to that classic, more primitive rock n roll sound of yore. At this point, having seen this show, I don’t even care. It was a special evening with a special band.
When I see a band like this, that I’ve loved for so long, it’s like seeing an old gang of friends that I haven’t seen in a while. There’s always rock n roll music and a cocktail or two… It’s so worth it. As I’m fond of saying, buy the ticket, see the show. Even if it takes a nudge from the wife…
Cheers!
This content was originally published here.