Another Beautiful Night
Show nineteen at 'the sssspherical object that is the Sphere' and with Depeche Mode in the house, 'your own … personal … Jesus'.
Songs from Rattle and Hum were back in the set tonight and 'Personal Jesus' showed up in between 'When Love Comes to Town' and 'Love Rescue Me',
Also dropped through the 22-song set were familiar scenes from Van Morrison's 'Into the Mystic', The Rolling Stones' 'Paint It Black', and The Beatles' 'Blackbird'.
What Did Bono Say
The band returned from the three-week hiatus with some new gear, including the front door of the childhood home of Ali Stewart, the doorbell of which Bono rang, waiting in vain for an answer, as he held tight to the digital balloon floating high in the Sphere roof during 'Trying To Throw Your Arms Around the World'.
An imagined conversation with his mother-in-law, Joy Stewart, who is here tonight: 'Joy! Hey Joy! I'm bringing your daughter home a little balloon. I got a little distracted.' 'Hey Edge? I lost me keys. Do you know where they are? …. Uh …. She won't open the door.'
As the song draws to an end: 'That was for Joy and Ali'. And then: 'Do you do panto here? You're missing out if you don't….You do bingo!'
Between 'All I Want Is You' and 'Desire': 'I think it's clear that Adam and Bram have something going on….(To Adam) Look at this man, even his street wear looks posh. … I'd like to introduce you to our very own Greek god — no, Roman god — putting the Venus in the Venetian: Adam Clayton, Lord Adam Clayton.…On my right, our scientist — and we are clearly his experiment — our very own WMD, weapon of mass devotion, The Edge!'
Before launching into 'Beautiful Day': 'This is truly a beautiful…day. You see, just hanging out in a place like this you get show business. See what I did there? Be careful. “A Beautiful Night” would be proper show business.”
Shout Outs:
To Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, in the house tonight.
'To those of you from (RED) and ONE, for giving other people great lives, too, thank you Gayle (Smith, CEO of the ONE Campaign), and Tom (Hart, outgoing president of ONE) also here.
To Jimmy Iovine, who produced Rattle and Hum, during 'Desire'.
From the Socials
'U2 at the Sphere was amazing. This was a pilgrimage for me. Vegas is not my jam but U2 certainly is and has been for lo these many years. They have my heart and soul and this time they exceeded my expectations. Now if I could just see it 5 more times.' —MaryCade Mainwaring on Facebook
'Spent my 52nd birthday with Bono and the boys. Celebrating my remission from Stage 4 colon cancer as well. I sang….LOUDLY. “I'm ready to say, I'm glad to be alive.”'—@AllU2 on X
'EDGE on Acrobat!! If that does not call Mr MacPhisto out of the Casino he's hiding in I don't know what...#U2 #U2Sphere' — @HerzensSonne22 on X
From Zootopia/U2 Faniverse
'Really though, how did they manage to write the perfect song not once but 12 times on this album?!....I want to know what reference Bono's going to baffle the Vegas audience with next, after Calpol and panto...' —Canadanne
'ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssspherical...' —Max Tsukino
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