U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere

'In The Name of Love'

It was a joyful Sunday night touched with sorrow as the band wrapped up their second week in Las Vegas with a show filled with both raucous and raw emotion.

During the entr'acte between the first and second half of Achtung Baby, the band turned their attention to the deadly attacks a day earlier in Israel and Gaza, including the Supernova trance music festival where people were celebrating the Jewish holiday of sukkot.

Coming out of 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' Bono included a snippet of the Jimmy Cliff song, 'Many Rivers to Cross,' singing: 'Many rivers to cross, but I can't seem to find, my way back over…Wandering I am lost, yes I can't seem to find, my way back over.'

What Did Bono Say

'Let's bring some light to a world that needs it', he said during 'One'. 

Introducing 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', Bono said: 'This next song would not have happened without the inspirational genius of poets like Allen Ginsberg, who woke me up to poetry and the psalms, and these Jewish mystics out in the desert who would hear the voice of God in the quietest whispers. I think about Allen's [poem] 'Kaddish' right now'.

To the audience, introducing ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’: ‘You sort of own these songs….Your lives are wrapped up in them. We might have written them, but whatever you're going through in your life — great joy or despair — our songs, we hope, are useful to you.'

'In the light of what's happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about nonviolence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for nonviolence…so, sing with us and those beautiful kids at that music festival’, he said. 

Shout Outs

To Gavin Friday, on his birthday.

On the Socials

'Amazing and poignant U2 concert last night. It was a special night for sure. The visuals and sound of the venue are off the charts, but there was a real connection between the band, the audience and what's happening in the world that can't be matched. #U2UVSPHERE' — @ildemocrat on X

'#TheSphere is an incredible music venue. @u2 an incredible show. We had top row seats, could feel the music. Visuals incredible. #U2UVSPHERE … Thank you!” —@JuliePile on X

'B captures the emotions of these moments so well. The rage, the pain, the anguish, the faint light of hope in the darkness. Keep shining your light, Lads. We GET to carry each other. #U2 @U2 #U2UVSphere @U2Community' — @bigreddiver on X

On Zootopia/U2 Faniverse

About Bono's comments during 'Pride'): 'Wow. That's the heaviest topical moment at the sphere. I wonder how the crowd took it.' — hexis

If you were at the show in Vegas, add your own review and upload your photos here.

Photo credit : Ross Andrew Stewart