One of the biggest highlights of the Super Bowl was U2’s Las Vegas Residency announcement. Although the exact dates haven’t been revealed yet, the iconic Rock band shared a teaser, confirming that they have upcoming shows in Fall at Vegas’ MSG Sphere. The Irish group members will be the first ones to perform at the venue after its opening.
The description section about the locale says: “With approximately 17,500 seats and a scalable capacity up to 20,000 guests, MSG Sphere at The Venetian will become the venue of choice for a wide variety of content, including Sphere experiences, concert residencies, product launches, and marquee events.”
U2, who had last gone on tour in 2019, also dropped a new version of “One” from their Achtung Baby album. The song that was presented during the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award will also appear on the band’s anticipated forthcoming LP Songs of Surrender, which is set to come out in March.
Unfortunately, the announcement comes with the news that drummer Larry Mullen Jr. will not be joining members Bono, the Edge, and Adam Clayton at MSG Sphere, in order to take the time needed to undergo and recover from surgery. He will be replaced by Bram van den Berg, “It’s going to take all we’ve got to approach the Sphere without our bandmate in the drum seat, but Larry has joined us in welcoming Bram van den Berg who is a force in his own right.”
The remaining band members added: “The Sphere show has been in the works for a long time. We don’t want to let people down, least of all our audience…. The truth is we miss them as much as they appear to miss us…. Our audience was always the fifth member of the band. Bottom line, U2 hasn’t played live since December 2019 and we need to get back on stage and see the faces of our fans again.”
They continued: “And what a unique stage they’re building for us out there in the desert…. We’re the right band, Achtung Baby the right album, and the Sphere the right venue to take the live experience of music to the next level…. That’s what U2’s been trying to do all along with our satellite stages and video installations, most memorably on the Zoo TV Tour, which ended in Tokyo 30 years ago this fall.”
Songs of Surrender, the 40-track LP will arrive on March 17 and will include re-recorded versions of songs from their repertoire. U2 have already reissued and re-released The Unforgettable Fire, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and shared new songs like “Ahimsa” and “Your Song Saved My Life.”
Check the extended Super Bowl trailer here:
Listen to the new version of “One” on Spotify: