Ticket requests for U2 Sphere residency top 1m
U2 have added a further five dates to their U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere residency after receiving more than one million ticket requests for the shows.
The run will launch Madison Square Garden (MSG) Entertainment’s 17,500-seat/20,000-cap Sphere at The Venetian in Las Vegas venue in September.
The Irish group initially announced five nights from 29-30 September and 5, 7-8 October, before confirming an additional seven (11, 13-14, 18, 20-21 and 25 October). Now, Sphere Entertainment and Live Nation have revealed five more dates – 27-28 October and 1, 3-4 November – bringing the total number of concerts to 17.
Tickets start at US$140 (€127) and will reflect all-in pricing. Promoters say the larger capacity allows for 60% of tickets to be priced under $300, while there will also be a limited number of premium priced tickets per show.
Based around U2’s classic 1991 album Achtung Baby, the series will be the band’s first live shows since The Joshua Tree 30th anniversary stadium tour, which was seen by 3.28 million fans worldwide from 2017-19 and grossed US$390.8 million.
The $2.18 billion Sphere is a “next-generation entertainment medium” that promises to “redefine the future of live entertainment”. It will introduce the first 16K screen that wraps up, around, and behind the audience, and also boasts Sphere Immersive Sound and 4D technologies.
“There’s nothing else like it in the world and won’t be for many, many years”
“The idea behind U2 is always to make the worst seat in the house the best seat in the house,” Bono told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “This changes the whole dynamic on that. Most music venues [bigger than theatres] are sports venues. They’re built for sports, they’re not built for music. They’re not built for art. So this building was built for immersive experience in cinema and performance. You can’t come here for an ice hockey game.”
“The sound has been designed as a priority from the beginning,” added The Edge. “There’s nothing else like it in the world and won’t be for many, many years. I think the truth is that depending where you are in the venue, you will get your own very unique show.”
The pair also commented on the possibility of their residency expanding further still.
“I don’t know,” said Bono. “We’ll have to see if we like this. We’ll have to see if our audience love this. I think it’s going to be hard to get us out of here. We’re not touring Achtung Baby anyway. With The Joshua Tree, we took that album around the world. This will only be here.”
“Don’t forget it’s 18,000 to 20,000 people a night so you’re not going to be doing 100 shows,” noted The Edge. “I mean, it’s impossible.”
Last week, MSG announced “Sphere Experiences” as part of its opening programming at MSG Sphere at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The concept will launch this October with a “first-of-its-kind” immersive production Postcard from Earth.
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