The Sphere

Tiny intro like: Born one week apart in mid-February, Elliott and Shawn separately bought tickets to the same U2 Sphere show in Las Vegas as an early 30th birthday treat and met for the first time en route to the big orb. Both are currently bigger U2 fans than >97% of people under the age of 40.

Shawn: So where does your U2 fandom stand right now in the year of 2024, and tell me a little about your history with the band?

Elliott: U2 is the most important band (to me) of my lifetime. It was through them that I became obsessed with music when I was 6, hearing Elevation in a friend’s car, and being forever changed. I first saw U2 live as a 5th grader on the Vertigo Tour (Late Registration era Kanye West was the opener!), and my life changed even more. Calling them my favorite band from age 6-18 doesn’t do it justice; they were one of the biggest parts of my life. I was obsessed and if you knew me even a little bit, you were well aware of that obsession. I mean, my AIM username (AOL instant messenger iykyk)  was u2freak933 for fucks sake. I wasn’t exactly shy about it. 

My music taste evolved and for most of my 20s, U2 was a thing of the past; a band I held deep in my heart but rarely listened to. But in these last few years, I’ve fallen back in love with them. I’ve gained a deeper appreciation of their ingenious songwriting, their earnest, heart-on-their sleeve anthems, and the creative risks they took (and mostly knocked out of the park imo) in the ‘90s. They’re firmly back to being one of my favorite bands, so I couldn’t have been more amped to see them in this insane venue. 

How about you Shawn? Tell me about your history with the boys from Dublin, and where you stand now as we enter The Sphere. 

Shawn: I don’t know if the Irishmen have ever been my favorite-favorite band, but they were also an extremely important springboard. How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and the iPhone commercials kind of hit at the exact time when I was ready to pivot from actual boy band music and the Bee Gees (lol) to big-time radio rock. I remember giving a class presentation in 4th grade about one Paul Hewson and playing “All Because of You” from a burned mix CD for a room of 10-year-olds (Elliott: Heck yeah dude, gave a presentation on U2 in 5th grade and played Vertigo for the class. Definitely maintained a greatest hits/first four songs of The Joshua Tree-level of fandom up through No Line in 2009, and then fell away as indie rock took over my life. Oddly, I probably have never been a bigger U2 fan than I’ve been in the past few years, and that only ramped up after going through the whole discog — including a couple I’d neglected, like October and Pop, for the first time — in the month leading up to the Sphere. Speaking of that thing, what were your first impressions of it as a venue?

Elliott: I felt transported as soon as I set foot inside of that thing. Gone were the harsh overhead lights you get at most other venues that hold tens of thousands. The lighting was muted and lush, and everything around me felt cinematic. The (ultra) violet colorscapes captured the essence of ‘90s U2, while the lobby and bars were soundtracked to slowed-down remixes of Achtung Baby songs. It was like getting a taste of the world they sing about in Zooropa. And I loved how they catered the aura of everything to the band (and Achtung Baby specifically) we were all there for.

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The layout of the seats is dang impressive too. We were fairly low in the 200 section, but the screen is unbeliveably large and surrounding that I can’t imagine others felt like they were too far away. A woman next to me leaned over during the show, pointed at the 100+ feet tall figures on the screen, and said “it’s like we’re in the front row.” She wasn’t wrong.