U2 Announce ‘Achtung Baby Live At The Sphere’ Shows At Groundbreaking New Las Vegas Venue
Recuperating drummer Larry Mullen Jr’s place at the shows will be filled by Bram van den Berg.
U2 have announced U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At The Sphere, a special run of shows this fall to launch the new state-of-the-art venue MSG Sphere in Las Vegas.
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The news of the band’s first live shows in four years, at which they will perform their classic 1991 album, arrives in a full-length trailer announcement. It features a group of new and longtime U2 fans, as welll as a few doppelgangers of the band, coming together for “a futuristic Achtung Baby adventure in a unique desert landscape.”
U2’s new shows at the Sphere, the state-of-the art venue that currently dominates the Las Vegas skyline, will be typically boundary-pushing for a group that have always embraced cutting-edge technology to enhance their live reputation. The announcement also contains confirmation that drummer Larry Mullen Jr, will not take part in the shows, as he takes time out this year to undergo and recuperate from surgery. His place will be filled by Bram van den Berg, from the Dutch band Krezip.
U2 fans worldwide can register here to receive more information about dates of the shows and on sale details once they are announced. In a statement, Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton said: “It’s going to take all we’ve got to approach the Sphere without our bandmate in the drum seat, but Larry has joined us in welcoming Bram van den Berg who is a force in his own right.
“The Sphere show has been in the works for a long time. We don’t want to let people down, least of all our audience…the truth is we miss them as much as they appear to miss us…our audience was always the fifth member of the band. Bottom line, U2 hasn’t played live since December 2019 and we need to get back on stage and see the faces of our fans again.
‘Right band, right album, right venue’
“And what a unique stage they’re building for us out there in the desert…We’re the right band, ACHTUNG BABY the right album, and the Sphere the right venue to take the live experience of music to the next level…That’s what U2’s been trying to do all along with our satellite stages and video installations, most memorably on the ZOO TV Tour, which ended in Tokyo 30 years ago this Fall.
“The Sphere is more than just a venue, it’s a gallery and U2’s music is going to be all over the walls.”
Added The Edge added: “The beauty of the Sphere is not only the ground-breaking technology that will make it so unique, with the world’s most advanced audio system, integrated into a structure which is designed with sound quality as a priority; it’s also the possibilities around immersive experience in real and imaginary landscapes. In short, it’s a canvas of an unparalleled scale and image resolution and a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We all thought about it and decided we’d be mad not to accept the invitation.”
A world premiere of the new version of “One,” from U2’s upcoming Songs Of Surrender, played during the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Super Bowl feature.
MSG Sphere promises “a new medium of entertainment,” in which audiences will be immersed in U2’s performance in what is promised to be the world’s most experiential venue. It introduces the first 16K screen that wraps up, around, and behind the audience.
Sphere Immersive Sound will deliver pitch-perfect audio to every seat in the house, and 4D technologies will let the audience feel the wind on their face, the heat on their skin and the rumble of thunder.
Pre-order Songs of Surrender, which is released on March 17.
