September 30, 2023: U2 is getting ready to play their second show at the Sphere. Pauli “The PSM” Lovejoy came out to drive the neon-colored Trabant across the floor, blasting hits from the Beatles, David Bowie, and Brian Eno.
My jet-lagged self sat in section 302. It had been over five years since I last saw U2 in concert — although, Bono's “Stories of Surrender” tour was a great appetizer for their Sphere shows.
“[Was] that the only show you came to?” Lovejoy asked me.
When I confirmed that it was, he replied, laughing, “Oh no, the second one was the worst one. I got booed.”
I was there to witness what came next. Pauli's setlist felt long, and it became apparent the band wasn't coming on stage soon. Per setlist.fm, U2 hit the stage at 8:35 pm during the first show. It was getting well past 8:35 before fans began booing.
Pauli “The PSM” Lovejoy was the scapegoat for the situation. Of course, he was the recipient of 16,512 boos as fans eagerly awaited U2 to take the stage.
In what felt like a desperate attempt to redirect fans' anger into excitement, Lovejoy began chanting, “We want U2!” The boos didn't let up, and Lovejoy began playing other tunes.
A neon dance party turned sour. But the experience wasn't all bad for Lovejoy.
“I got off stage and people were like, ‘Are you okay?' And I was like, ‘Yeah, man, that was incredible,'” he recalled.
He did concede that it wasn't easy.
“In the moment, it was like, Whoa, what's happening? What are we doing here? Should I just stop? But it also was a beautiful moment that brought me much closer to the band,” Lovejoy continued.
Pauli “The PSM's” recollection of U2's second Sphere show
Pauli “The PSM” Lovejoy spoke to ClutchPoints after U2's Sphere residency wrapped up. Upon bringing up the disastrous opening set of the second show, which he clearly remembered, Lovejoy jokingly pleaded the fifth: “There should be an embargo on that question!”
In all seriousness, it was challenging. After all, 16.5k angry U2 fans aren't a crowd anyone wants to face. Lovejoy stood strong and made it out alive, and it helped him grow.
“That was one of the most difficult moments of my professional career — I didn't know what was going on and it was my second show,” Lovejoy recalled. “I've been told I need to have 30 minutes to an hour of music each day. And I'm on this stage and it's nearly two hours in, I'm like, I'm running out of tunes here, guys, I don't know what to do.
“And [they] didn't communicate what was happening, and I was so conscious — people aren't there to see me. This is not the Pauli show. When I heard people, I was like, I'm just going to keep playing some more tunes. I [thought,] How do I take that energy and use it? ‘Cause it's still energy, it's something that can be used and turned around,” he continued.
A guardian angel
His guardian angel came in the form of an angry fan who cheered “We want U2.” Over six months later, Lovejoy thanks that fan for giving him a reason to go on.
“Whoever shouted ‘We want U2,' at me, thank you because that was the catalyst to what gave me [the confidence to go on]. I could have been like, Ah, I'm not playing anymore. I don't know what to do, but it gave me something to work with,” Lovejoy said.
As Lovejoy remembers it, the fan was “looking at me and pointing at me and he was looking deep into my soul, and he was like, ‘We want U2.'”
This inspired Lovejoy.
“I was like, That's good. I like that. Keep that energy. There's probably a video, I was like, ‘Keep the energy, let's go,'” Lovejoy said.
He then played “Seven Nation Army” and chanted “We want U2” over it. While it didn't completely calm down the crowd, Lovejoy made the most of an unfortunate situation.
Even if he got booed, Lovejoy doesn't take it personally. He knows that U2's fan base is passionate, and the disastrous Sphere show was still “fulfilling.” It proved the passion of the fan base to him.
“As much as I say it was one of the most difficult moments, it was one of the most fulfilling and just incredible to, again, feel something and to know that people care and that people can be excited and angry and passionate and just to be on that journey with everyone because I was feeling all the same things that everyone else was feeling,” Lovejoy explained.
At the end of the day, Lovejoy considers it “one of the best DJ sets” he has performed.
New kid on the block
Above all else, Lovejoy was nervous about opening for U2. Luckily, the second Sphere show eased Lovejoy's anxiety.
“I went into it thinking, What if they don't like me? What if they hate me? We got that out of the way [during] the second show,” Lovejoy said. “[I] loved it. And from then on, [the] only way was up.”
He wasn't the only newbie, though. Bram van den Berg sat in alongside rock legends Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton. The bar was even higher for van den Berg, who was sitting in for Larry Mullen Jr., founder and drummer of U2 who was recovering from health issues for the 40-night stay in Las Vegas.
This brought Lovejoy and van den Berg closer.
“Bram's the coolest — that was my touring bro,” Lovejoy revealed. “I know if I was going through something, I could call him and just chat. Because we were both going through a similar thing where we were both the new kids and also from a different generation. It was awesome.”
U2 were role models for Lovejoy
That isn't to say Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton didn't help Lovejoy out (he called Clayton “one of the most humble humans I've ever met”). He recalled being inspired by U2's work ethic throughout the residency.
“The reason why they're at the top of the world and why they do what they've been doing for how many years is because they work hard,” Lovejoy said. “And I think more than any advice that Bono or Edge or anyone could have given me, it was seeing them day in, day out, rehearsing, seeing them sound-checking, seeing them get to the venue early and figure stuff out and never resting on their laurels.
“Do you get advice from your family, or do they just show you how to live?” Lovejoy asked, referring to his U2 family. “I think you learn so much from experiencing their presence. Those [are] wonderful humans, it's something that I'll never forget. It's how they carried themselves more than anything. It's beautiful — it's really beautiful.”
Harry Styles, meeting Bono, and how Pauli landed the Sphere gig
Pauli “The PSM” Lovejoy has Harry Styles to thank for landing the U2 Sphere gig. In July 2023, Styles was playing a show at Slane Castle in Ireland. Bono's son, Eli Hewson, leads a punk rock band called Inhaler, who were opening for Styles at this homecoming show.
“In the backstage area, Bono was just wandering around and saying hi to people,” Lovejoy recalled. “He came over to me and was like, ‘Yo, how's it going?'
“I was like, ‘Yo, how's it going?' [He] gave me a big hug and everyone was like, Oh my gosh, you know Bono? I was like, I guess I do now,” he continued.
A month later, Lovejoy received a call from Styles' manager, Jeffrey Azoff. He is also a part of U2's management team. He asked Lovejoy for DJ recommendations for their Sphere residency. Despite his “killer” recommendations, Azoff popped the question: “Would you do it?” he asked Lovejoy.
“I was like, ‘I mean, I met Bono that one time. I don't know if he'll remember me. And obviously, I was DJing, [but] hell yeah, I'd love to do it,'” Lovejoy said. “Jeff connected with Gavin [Friday], Gavin reached out, [I] spoke to Uncle Gav — [he] became my uncle very quickly and connected the dots with Bono. It was like, ‘You know Bono?' I was like, ‘I met him once, but yeah, amazing that we connected and that he felt something.'”
From there, Lovejoy hit the ground running.
“Before I knew it — I couldn't even process what was happening — I got an email saying, ‘Welcome to the family. This is the day we start.' So, I had like three weeks to pack my bags and figure out a setlist, and I was in Vegas [for] six months after that,” he recalled.
Making the perfect playlist
He then worked extensively with Friday to curate the perfect playlist. The Beatles, David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Vangelis all made the cut.
This required some research. Lovejoy went back to U2's roots, listening to what the band was inspired by in 1990-91 when recording Achtung Baby.
“There were no real surprises when it came to the setlist. I wanted it to be a celebration and I wanted it to also tell the story of what they were inspired by at the time when they were making Achtung Baby,” he explained. “I did some research — I wanted to make sure I was doing my homework — [and] I know that Bono was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk at the time and he's also a massive Eno head, Brian Eno, so I wanted to pay homage to all of that and do it in my own way at the same time, just have a straight-out Vegas party.
“It's not [about] me — I don't want it to feel like a wedding or something,” Lovejoy continued. “I wanted it to feel like a cool party. Collectively, I think we did a good job.”
No conflicting songs
While U2's members didn't request any specific songs, Lovejoy did have to be careful with his selections. For example, he wanted to use Elvis Presley's “Viva Las Vegas,” a no-brainer for the Last Vegas Sphere residency. However, he was advised not to use it. (They would use the song during “Love Is Blindness” unbeknownst to Lovejoy.)
“I had ‘Viva Las Vegas' as the penultimate song going into the show. And they were like, ‘Maybe don't play that one.' And I was like, ‘Oh, I thought they would like that one' because I know there's a massive Elvis influence and obviously [being in] Vegas, that's a good one,” Lovejoy recalled. “They hadn't done it in rehearsals, but I watched the show and it was like, Oh, okay, they're referencing ‘Viva Las Vegas' in the show.
“So, there's moments where you don't want anything to conflict with the main show. At the end of the day, I'm there just to warm people up, to get people in the zone, get people used to being in that mad space, [and] get people used to looking at something, focusing on something, [and] listening to something,” he continued with a smile.
“Achtung Baby you can drive my car”
“Viva Las Vegas” was a no-go for Lovejoy's opening set. However, he did use the Beatles' “Drive My Car.” During some Sphere shows, Bono would sing, “Achtung Baby you can drive my car,” an obvious nod to the Beatles song.
This wasn't done in collaboration with Bono. Lovejoy received the tip from Jake Berry, U2's production manager.
During one of the early days of dress rehearsals, Berry was singing the song to himself. “Everyone knows that song, but you [have] got to play it,” he told Lovejoy.
This was a bit awkward for Lovejoy, who was used to getting directions from Friday and U2. However, “Jake knows his s**t, and he was like, ‘You should play that.'”
And so, Lovejoy tried it out and it worked.
“It really worked,” Lovejoy recalled. “And credit to so many people that had great ears and great eyes. And for me, I'm half of these guys age — I'm literally half Jake Berry's age, he's an older man, [and] I wasn't around when they made Achtung Baby, I wasn't around, so I have to take my guides and take my cues from people that know the audience better than me.”
He remained open to new ideas from his older co-workers. And in the end, “Drive My Car” worked well — after all, Lovejoy rides a Trabant during the opening set — and Bono referenced it during the shows, “which was incredible,” per Lovejoy.
“Front row in Las Vegas”
Living out of Las Vegas for six months was an interesting experience for Lovejoy. In the end, it was an “incredible” one despite his initial thoughts about Vegas.
“At first, I had all these weird preconceptions about what it was going to be. And then it was like, Oh, maybe this is just going to be horrible, the worst thing ever, because when people think about Vegas, they think about the Strip. But there's so much more to Vegas than the Strip.”
He cited the different communities in Las Vegas as the reason it was a good experience. You just have to find the right spots. It felt like home to Lovejoy by the end of U2's 40-night residency, and playing in Las Vegas was a dream come true for the DJ.
As for the show itself, seeing it come together was a treat for Lovejoy. Throughout the 40 shows, U2 broke out some deep cuts like “Seconds” and “Peace on Earth” and even played “40” during the last show. Lovejoy noted that over those six months in the desert, the band became more comfortable. But they never got too comfortable, always pushing the boundaries, which left an impression on Lovejoy.
“They were pushing it — they were pushing the boundaries [of] what was possible,” Lovejoy said. “Seeing seeing how comfortable they were getting on stage with each other and seeing how the costume was changing and like seeing, seeing B [Bono] take off his shirt and there being [a] sleeveless vest kind of vibe going on, showing off his guns, I was like, All right, someone's been in the gym.
“It was awesome to see the evolution of the set and to see how much more confident and at home they were feeling in this brand new cathedral,” Lovejoy added.
“We're one, but we're not the same”
Being U2's opening act meant Lovejoy got to meet a lot of the band's fans up close and personal. He would drive a Trabant across the Sphere's floor during his opening set. To this day, Lovejoy remembers some of the standout fans.
“I've forgotten his name, but I'm sure it's researchable. There's one guy dressed as a devil every single night. (Note: The fan in question is Super Bono, who dresses as Bono's alter-ego, MacPhisto),” Lovejoy recalled. “He's super dope, a big fan. He's from South America. He came to, like, 20 [of] the shows.”
Super Bono would support Lovejoy each night, dancing with him during his set. Lovejoy also recalled fans giving him shirts, flags, and other memorabilia. They would even come up to him at the airport and talk about the shows.
At the end of the day, the U2 fan base is “incredible.” Lovejoy even laughed when I brought up the Adam Clayton mustache mob. Unlike van den Berg, Lovejoy didn't get one.
“I didn't [get one,” he revealed. “I needed one!”
Whether they're Harry Styles or U2 fans, they're all “beautifully passionate humans” to Lovejoy.
“That's the similarity. That's the common thread here. There [are] people out there that love good music. They love congregating in special spaces to celebrate good music and to celebrate life,” Lovejoy said. “And that's what I'm all about. That's the similarity between Harry fans, U2 fans, [and] Pauli fans.
“It's [a] family, man. People come out and they might go there by themselves, but they leave with a family for life. Friends that they'll talk to forever,” Lovejoy continued.
Going solo
For Pauli “The PSM” Lovejoy, U2's Sphere residency allowed him his biggest platform yet. And now, he gets to embark on a solo tour, which he promises will replicate his Sphere sets in terms of energy and vibe.
“I want people to feel seen, I want people to feel heard, I want you to feel like you've stepped into something that feels familiar but at the same time it's entertainment, it's a bit of escapism,” Lovejoy said. “It's a moment to forget about what's happening outside and to just really be able to let loose and have that community energy that can just help you to feel good, just to feel something.
“So many people go through their day-to-day and they don't feel anything, so it's nice to have a moment of just reminding people to take a second to breathe in the second to look into someone else's eyes and maybe dance a little bit — it's nice to have people feel something,” Lovejoy concluded.
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