Last week I had the opportunity to head out to Las Vegas to see one of my favorite bands, U2, at their residency there. Much attention has been given to the new venue, Sphere, which has crazy visuals inside and out.

First and formost was the band. This was somewhere around my 12th or 13th time seeing U2. Things were a bit different, with drummer Larry Mullen Jr out of the lineup due to back surgery, but fill in drummer Bram van den Berg didn’t miss a beat, doing a fantastic job. The Edge effortlessly showed his prowess, Bono his usual charm, energy and humor, while Adam Clayton demonstrated his talent on bass, powering band through their 22 song set.

The entire Achtung Baby (my personal favorite U2 album) was played, with a break in the middle for a few other songs, as well as an encore of 6 of their other beloved tracks. In short: they’re still easily one of the best live bands I’ve seen, and this show didn’t disappoint.

Now, onto Sphere itself. It was pretty impressive, with its wrap-around screen on the inside and outside of the building. The visuals were stunning at times, even making me feel as though the entire inside of the building was moving. It was dizzying, but super cool.

There is only one negative I have with the venue: if you’re sitting in the lower seats under the overhang of the seats above, like we were, a great amount of your view of the screen is obstructed by that section. I often found myself struggling to lean forward in hopes of seeing more of the giant display, but was never able to see all the way up to the ceiling. As amazing as it was, we couldn’t see many of the visuals above a certain point. This was a real shame because videos we’ve seen show that there’s much more to be seen above, where the ceiling makes some cool effects. This was definitely a letdown, though it did nothing to hinder the band’s performance.

Overall it was a great experience, even though the flights from and back to Maryland in the early hours of the morning were exhausting. Getting to see such an event was well worth it.

Below are some pics I took.

Next up I’ll be featuring another show I recently attended.

-Clint