Firstly, on your point about the screen. I am super happy that I went with the strategy I did of two shows, one on level 4 and one on the ground. Last night I was on level 4. Not sure if you've been to a show, but from up there, the show lost a lot of steam in the Rattle & Hum section, and that flowed into the rest of Achtung. People were taking piss/drink breaks en masse. From Desire through to So Cruel, so a solid 25 minutes, you're watching ants on a square and the screen wasn't used. I absolutely got that the reason for it was to remind you that you're watching a band and not a amazing technicolour dreamcoat, but from level 4 it falls a bit flat. It would have been completely fine if they'd just used the screen to show video of them playing without any special effects (though I wish Acrobat had used the screen), but yeah.
Anyway. The venue. It's a little hard to believe and comprehend. It's been so well built and constructed and you can tell a lot of care and thought has gone into it. Getting around the Strip as a whole is a fucking nightmare in general with the construction that's happening and the lack of footpaths (sidewalks as you Seppos call them) and it took me forever to figure out how to get into the Venetian when I got to the Sphere. But from then on it's so cool. It's like a pilgrimage, walking through the hotel and then across to the Sphere. The inside is magic, I fucking LOVE the ambient versions of Achtung tracks that have playing in the foyer. The seats are hella steep, it takes a bit to get used to, and then when you're in there it's just unreal. The fake birds flying from fake perch to fake perch.
The hype party I think could be done a lot better. I got inside about 7pm and it was awesome to hear Low played in full and then Kraftwerk, but from that point it gets a bit classic rock radio. When you think about the support acts they had on ZooTV and the genres they were drawing from in the 90s, I think the music played by the cool dude in the Trabant could have been more contextual. More hip-hop, more electro, more early 90s stuff. It was bittersweet to hear a Lemon remix, because it was fucking awesome but it meant that I probably wasn't going to be hearing Lemon live on this night.
I was crying the second the screen turned into a wall. Now, I'll just say here that this review is going to contain a few critical thoughts, if that's not your thing, please scroll on by. As my previous post outlines, I adored the show, but as a U2 ultranerd it's hard not to nitpick when they're *this* close to perfection. Some of these critiques will be ridiculous, too, and this first critique is one of those. GOD I WISH Bono had done the jolting/kicking to the opening strikes of Zoo Station. But anyway, what a treat to finally hear this live. So fucking cool how Edge's guitar breaks open the wall and then it slowly turns from a + to full screen. The Fly was unreal, I was losing it. What a fucking incredible use of technology (the way the screen descends on you? Wild!), and of course it sounded amazing. Even Better, amazing. Mysterious Ways is probably my least favourite song on Achtung to be honest, and we all wish Edge would play the slide guitar, but it was fun. The use of the screen in One was absolutely magic, I adored how the signs slowly made their way forward. I was CRUSHED to not hear Hear Us Coming, maybe he'll sing it in a couple nights time. Until the End of the World was as epic as ever. At this point I'm struck by just how GOOD everything sounds. Not a bum note. They even managed to recreate some of that tincan drumming sound that Zoo Station has in the studio, I though.
While we're here - Bram was great. He dissolved into the background, but it was nice to see someone young on stage with them. Of course I'd prefer to have Larry there but it literally did not affect my enjoyment of the show one iota. If anything, it was nice to see a U2 drummer smile for what must be the first time in 20 years.
Wild Horses/Tryin' to Throw was my favourite part of the show by far. God, this was so joyous. Wild Horses has always had a big spot in my heart, when I first listened to Achtung way back when it was the track that kept me coming back to the album. To finally hear it live, and to hear it played and sung SO well, with the ambers falling all around, was incredible. And that extended ending was sick. Then TTTYAATW. I wasn't sure if they'd play every track, when this started I was just so happy. I was bopping and drumming like crazy in my seat. It's SUCH a fucking good song and it really lends itself well to the live stage. You could see the band had a heap of fun with it, Bono was pretty loose and silly, and then Morleigh came out (not sure if this has been an every show thing?) and swung in the balloon string, it was her birthday as well... this is probably up there now with Kite in 2006, Bad/Mercy and City of Blinding Lights in 2010, Running to Stand Still for Chris Cornell in 2017, Streets in 2017 and 2019, Ultraviolet in 2019 as my favourite U2 live moments.
All I Want is You was absolutely lovely, wish Edge had played electric but a small complaint, and the Lou Reed snippet ruled. Desire, I was hoping DESPERATELY that they'd play the Mirrorball Man version, but alas. It was fun. Angel of Harlem is also better electric but it was nice and a good lead-in speech by Bono, who was in fine form, maybe the most I've enjoyed his chatter in a live show.
Not sure if Love Rescue Me has been a regular but I was pretty disappointed with this section. The show had lost a bit of its energy already and then Bono had a totally expected but still pretty cowardly generic response to Palestine-Israel, "there's a thing happening and we're not gonna bring it up but we are gonna sing about it". And it was just Edge on guitar and Bono on vocals. I absolutely understand that this issue in particular is so sensitive and everyone has to be careful of what they're saying for fear of being branded anti-Semitic, but having watched the Kiss the Future doco a couple months ago it was pretty disappointing to see how safe they were in regards to this. Again, totally get it, but yeah.
And it was a bit awkward, too. All of a sudden, Bono goes, "shall we wake the baby back up" and then they're into the most searing song they've ever made in Acrobat. It was fucking incredible, sounded perfect, Edge, you can fucking play guitar man!! And play it goddamn well, too. The square looked very cool, but I do wish they'd used the screen here, at least from level 4. I'm sure I won't care tomorrow night. But not sure they did the song the justice it deserves with that awkward lead-in, and then having So Cruel come next, with nothing on the screen, brought the vibes back down a bit. I love this song and it was cool to hear but I didn't love it, I think I'll enjoy it more tomorrow. Ultraviolet was amazing, and then Love is Blindness was fucking incredible. Edge, again, killing it on guitar. And what a treat to hear this song live, and performed so well. I LOVED the visuals with the blue screen and the bugs slowly filling it up. It fit the mood of the song to an absolute tee. Smashed it.
Encore time, and I fucking hate Elevation man. Crowd loved it but it's such a shit song that I've heard way too many times and they have so many better tracks they could play that would go down just as well. What it did do, however, was make Atomic City and Vertigo seem like 10s. I don't love Atomic City (I do like that the start of the chorus makes me think of that Blondie song though) but it was much better than Elevation and the visual of Vegas was cool. Vertigo absolutely slapped, I'm totally comfortable with them always playing this song.
I thought they missed a trick here though. Come out to Vertigo, and then do Atomic City, and keep that awesome deconstruction of Vegas visual, and then you have literally the perfect opportunity to go into Streets with a trip through the desert to the Joshua Tree and go into Streets. I was so looking forward to this moment, I always do, but this was the least connected I've ever felt to the song. Bono did a Moment of Surrender snippet that took away from Edge's intro, and then I don't know what Edge was doing but he seemed to accidentally play tiny short snippets of the main riff completely out of place twice, and it totally took me out of the moment. A real shame, but maybe tomorrow it's rectified. The visuals were still pretty cool, particularly the sunrise and sunset, that was magic.
With or Without You destroyed me in the best way, I adore this song and it sounded incredible. I was absolutely weeping and at the end of the song a lovely lady next to me gave me a long and heartfelt hug, which was deeply special. I thought closing it out with Beautiful Day was perfect, it's definitely the most I have ever enjoyed this song live, so joyous and the visuals with the full screen were magic.
I'd have LOVED a few more songs, and it's a real shame they don't play any Zooropa, nor does MacPhisto get a segment (I couldn't tell from how far back I was but did Bono come out in the Mirrorball Man getup for Elevation?!) but by the end I wasn't that upset about that to be honest, I think I was just feeling a lot of emotions and feeling grateful that I was able to be here in person to see this show in this amazing venue, hear my favourite album live in full, and to hear them sound maybe the best I've ever heard them sound. I was just grateful to be able to see them play and play so well, given they're all 60+ and much nearer to the end than the start. I love this band with my whole heart and soul.
