During U2's Sphere shows, they break up their Achtung Baby album with a four-song acoustic set. Their latest album, Songs of Surrender, played a big part in that part of the setlist.
Traditionally, these acoustic songs include the likes of “All I Want Is You”; “Desire”; and “Love Rescue Me.” U2 has even broken out some rarities during this portion of the show. Some of those include “Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl”; “Two Hearts Beat As One”; “Seconds”; and “Peace on Earth.” Heck, they've even covered songs like “Don't Dream It's Over” and “A Rainy Night in Soho.”
Who knew that Songs of Surrender, a tie-in to Bono's memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, would play such a big part in the Sphere setlist? The album is a 40-song compilation of the band's songs rearranged and reworked for modern times.
Songs of Surrender
Speaking to Ric Lipson of Stufish ahead of U2's Sphere residency concluding, he recalled the early development of the setlist. Songs of Surrender and the Sphere residency were being conceptualized around the same time.
“What happened was last year and through the pandemic, the band created an album called Songs of Surrender, and it was 40 songs from the archive that were sort of reworked, they were turned into more stripped back, more acoustic [arrangements],” Lipson said. “And in some of the places, the lyrics were changed to represent where the band was as people. [Now that they're] older in their career, [they] reflected on some of the things they may have said when they first wrote the song.”
He found the experiment “interesting,” and Lipson also helped Bono develop his book tour, “Stories of Surrender.” Both Bono and the creative team were “amazed” by the show, which utilized some of the Songs of Surrender arrangements throughout. After all, these were not U2 gigs with his bandmates The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.
“What that meant was we then [started] thinking, Well, we're going to go to the Sphere. We know we want to do Achtung Baby, which is very big, but how do we actually also get some of the essence of what [Songs of] Surrender was?” he recalled.
Bringing intimacy to a big show
As a result, the band began rehearsing some of the Songs of Surrender arrangements. After “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World,” which concludes the loose first half of the album, U2 kicks into the acoustic set. At the show I attended, Bono joked that they were putting “the Achtung Baby to bed.”
This mini-set allows U2 to bring some intimacy to their shows. It's a task that seems nearly impossible considering the Sphere projects larger-than-life images to the screens. Since they don't have a B stage, this is also the band's best chance to slow down and interact with the show.
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere
U2 is currently playing their first concert residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, in Las Vegas. For the first time ever, the band is playing Achtung Baby in full in a live setting.
Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton are joined by Krezip drummer Bram van den Berg for these shows. Larry Mullen Jr. is sitting out these shows due to recovery from health issues.
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