On September 29, the iconic Irish rock band U2 played the first concert in the Sphere, Las Vegas’ other-worldly $2.3 billion immersive concert hall. Years in the making, the performance ushered in a new era of rock and roll spectacle as the band’s familiar music was augmented—and some might argue, eclipsed—by the virtual-reality-like immersiveness of the 160,000-square-foot 16K-by-16K LED display. They also took advantage of the Sphere’s spacial sound, which is powered by 168,000 speakers.
U2’s set included a full airing of their Achtung Baby album and other hits. But while the band was in fine form, managing a show without regular drummer Larry Mullen Jr. for the first time in decades, the real noise was directed at the eye. Was this “the future of live shows?” as one headline asked. Or was it “the greatest show on Earth?” One that “will change live entertainment forever?” From my seat in section 104, I found these questions worth asking.
As some critics gushed and others wrung their hands, the band itself has largely let the ex-Sphere-ience speak for itself. I got a chance to talk to U2’s virtuoso guitarist and resident technophile, the Edge, who shared his impressions of the show, as well as the future of immersive concert technology, and of course, Elvis. The interview is edited for length and clarity.
Photograph: STUFISH ENTERTAINMENT ARCHITECTS
Steven Levy: Now that you’ve got a couple shows under your belt at the Sphere, how are you feeling about it?
The Edge: I’m just so happy with the fact that it’s landed. It’s exceeded our wildest expectations in many ways. I was always saying to people when we were working with the concepts that the audience was the missing element. You don’t really know how it’s gonna play until you have an audience in the house. Within about four songs of the opening night, I was like, this is definitely working.
Can you break down what made you feel that you were connecting with the audience even though all those graphics were so overwhelming?
We started hearing a visceral reaction to some of the visual ideas. It was so funny—our mix engineer was backstage doing the live audio for the TV feed that night. He was used to hearing the crowd responding to the big choruses and the guitar solos and whatever. But he was completely confused by these huge roars that seemed to be happening in the middle of songs. They were responding to the visuals. So now it’s a fistfight between the band and the immersive screen. We kind of win most nights, but it’s almost an even fight.
Some people are wondering whether you do come out on top, or if the visuals, however stunning, detract from the music. What do you think about that?
I don’t worry. We’re pushing the envelope in the visual area as far as you can. All the artists we worked with have given us incredible material that we feel really connects with our music. But in the end, the songs dictate what we put on the screen and what we do as a band in performance. That’s still the core of this event. Without the music, it would be an empty spectacle.
From your point of view, what’s the difference between this and a normal concert?
The biggest difference for us is probably the clarity of the audio that enables us to do things in an intimate way that we couldn’t possibly do in a stadium or an arena. Some of the highlights are actually the stripped-down acoustic moments where the audience and the band have some of the most intimate of connections. That’s powerful.
You did some explicit tributes to Elvis in some amazing collages that filled the space. But in the more intimate part of the concert, when the band simply connected with each other inside the virtual turntable Brian Eno designed, I was reminded of the 1968 Elvis comeback special when he was jamming in the round with his sidemen. Was that intentional?
Not specifically, but the spirit of that moment would definitely be with us because that Elvis show was one of the first-ever live satellite performances, if I’m right.
Photograph: STUFISH ENTERTAINMENT ARCHITECTS
I have to admit that during that section, as great as the music was, I couldn’t wait for more of those crazy graphics or the immersiveness to return.
We’ve had virtual reality for a while. The real breakthrough is offering this immersive experience at scale, with an audience that you’re a part of. Rock and roll is a gathering of the tribes. There’s a sociological aspect to it. The experience itself is completely different when you’re there in the room with all these other fans. That’s the thing that makes this so powerful.
Have you sampled all the different kinds of virtual reality?
I’m fascinated with it because I keep trying to figure out how we can use it creatively. So yes, I’ve been dabbling for the last number of years. I took a trip out to Magic Leap. I’ve been made into an avatar and done some motion capture of a performance of “The Fly.” Our attitude is to lean in and be part of where this goes, rather than having it happen to us.
Maybe this would be an amazing app for the Apple headset.
I think so. But I find that being isolated in an immersive experience is very, very different than being at a live event. Even watching a concert film at home on your sofa, you want your friends around.
How did the Sphere’s 168,000-speaker sound system stack up to some of those you’ve used in the past?
The venue itself is really the breakthrough, in the sense that from first principles, it was designed with audio in mind, whereas most of the venues we end up playing above theaters that were designed primarily for sports, where the sound is a very kind of low priority. It’s really paid off. Think about it. From the sound point of view, the dome shape is the worst possible shape for a building. It’s a chaos of reverbs and echoes. But in the Sphere, the entire screen is something like 80 percent permeable, so the sound actually doesn’t really echo back off the screen, it goes through. You hardly have any slapback or reverb. And it’s so controllable. It’s like the best kind of cinema sound—THX, 360 sound. We’re only using a small part of that potential.
How are you planning to evolve these performances over the course of the residency? Are you going to play with the setlist?
A little bit yes to both. We don’t have quite the flexibility we would in a normal situation because the immersive content visually is hard to mess with. It’s incredibly time-consuming to change, as well as expensive. But in the parts of the show that are designed for spontaneity, we’ll do different things for sure.
At one point, a long rope was lowered from the top of the sphere and Bono pulled a young woman from the audience to ride it like a swing. It looked like she came close to slipping off. Are you rethinking that?
We’ll see how that unfolds. The second night, there was no one swinging.
The insurance company stepped in?
I think we’re fully covered. But it’s a lot of fun to, again, play with this bridge between the digital rendering and physical objects. That’s the beauty of this situation, blurring the line. There’s more to be had out of that.
Some of the most striking moments came when the visuals made it look like you were playing in some other location—in front of the Vegas strip, in the desert, in front of some ancient lake. When that happened did you feel you were somewhere else?
We’re only really peripherally aware of what’s happening behind us, but we feel it through the audience reaction.
U2’s The Edge playing guitar on stage at the Sphere, Las Vegas’ new immersive concert orb.Photograph: Rich Fury
I heard a rumor that you would extend the residency. Is that possible?
We always thought in the back of our mind that we might do some additional shows next year. But we haven’t even started the discussion. It does seem to have gone down extremely well, so hopefully there’ll be some demand. There’s this kind of balance between keeping this show going, which is, in many ways, a one-off to commemorate Achtung Baby. So we’re weighing whether to push forward with a new album, new material, and a new tour versus extending this run.
Are you a fan of Las Vegas, the city?
I find it confounding but fascinating. It’s sort of America writ large—incredibly imaginative, ambitious, audacious. But it’s also a place with so many sad stories because of the gambling aspects. You’ve got this litany of amazing artists that have spent a lot of time—Elvis to Frank Sinatra and the whole Rat Pack era. But there’s also the Atomic City phase, where people could come and see the bombs being tested in the Nevada Test Site in the ’50s. These were televised events. So it’s a very crazy place.
Paul McCartney was at the Sphere show. Did you get a chance to talk to him afterward?
We did for a few minutes.
What was his reaction to the show?
Well, he loved it.
Another thing that was unique about your performance was that your bandmate Larry Mullen, Jr., was sitting this out due to health issues. How did having a different drummer affect the performance for you?
Brin [van den Berg] has done incredibly well, a powerhouse of a drummer and also a great guy. He’s made a difficult time for the rest of us as easy as possible. The fact that he’s such a fan of Larry’s playing means that he’s really at pains to try and recreate as close to the original live arrangements as possible. If I didn’t look over the drum kit, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
So is the Sphere the future of entertainment?
I think it’s a new area, a new category, a new medium. From the very first time we saw the mock-up in Burbank with the one-quarter scale screen and we understood the kind of audio system, we thought this is definitely a kind of next step for our band and for our creative team. This could be something like a completely new paradigm. We’re maybe uniquely suited to exploring the potential. But there’s still so much that can be done here.
I think you missed a beat when you played the song “Vertigo” and didn’t use the visuals to actually create vertigo.
That would be no problem whatsoever. [I’ve been on a virtual] roller coaster ride in the mock-up in Burbank where literally you had to hold on to your seat because the balance was so impacted. But we don’t want to push it to the point where people are uncomfortable.
No, you don’t want barfing, do you?
No, that would not be good.
