U2 at The Sphere
This is the future of live entertainment. I had the very fortunate opportunity to catch U2's performance at Sphere Entertainment Co.'s new entertainment cathedral in the desert: Sphere.
In order to get the full experience, I caught the show both on the ground floor in general admission and high up in the 300 section. What's truly remarkable about this experience is that both "seats" have their distinct advantages. The fact that someone might prefer to sit further back from the stage is a testament to how immersive and satisfying the enveloping backdrop is.
At times, your entire periphery is taken over by the screen and hence, it can easily transport you into a new space akin to VR, without a headset. Kudos to the creative team behind U2's visuals for their inventiveness and clever transitions. It's hard not to want to spoil some of my favorite moments and as a die-hard U2 fan, they did these special songs justice (these pics are only a handful of the ones I'd love to share).
Additionally, the sound is spectacular. The stage is void of stacks of amps and there aren't hanging monitor speakers to obstruct views. Since the audio system is hidden in the screen, at times I heard surround sound, especially higher up. Edge's background voice was distinctly coming from the left, while Bono was more frontal. I'm accustomed to a solid wall of sound coming at me...not the subtly I experienced. At one point, Bono stopped himself from talking too loud into the mic! It was plenty loud, however I didn't bring ear plugs and my ears were not ringing afterward.
Lastly, this space is a cathedral of light. At times, you could look around and see the entire crowd of 17.5k attendees lit up which gives the performance a sense of communal and shared experience.
Even better news is that they announced yesterday an extension to their residency. I highly recommend the show to even the mildest of U2 fans. I've seen them an embarrassingly amount of times in 5 different countries over the years and this was my favorite set list!
