Revisiting an old album may seem like a cheap nostalgia act. Bono and U2 proved that notion wrong at the Sphere when they played their 1991 album, Achtung Baby, in full.
Even in 2017, the band toured their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, for audiences around the globe to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. And yet, the album felt new. Songs of Surrender, the band's latest album, was a collection of 40 songs reimagined from their back catalog — giving the songs new meaning.
That's why U2 revisited Achtung Baby at the Sphere. Sure, some of the band's biggest hits like “One” and “Mysterious Ways” are featured on the album, but Bono is adamant that the band had a reason to play at the new Las Vegas venue.
“The right time to remind the world we've made this album”
Speaking to the Fair Observer, Bono discussed U2's decision to play Achtung Baby at the Sphere. He first talked about how the album itself was a reinvention for the band. They delved deep into American roots music in the eighties with The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum. Achtung Baby presented a new sonic experience for fans.
Despite being over three decades old, the album still holds up. Its central themes of broken relationships and coming together still ring true in 2024 as they did in 1991 in the aftermath of the Berlin Wall falling.
“Even though our song, ‘One,' was written with very personal themes — ‘We're one, but we're not the same, we get to carry each other' — it resonated in Berlin because East and West Germany were coming together,” Bono said. “That song has gone on to mean a lot to people who are at odds with each other or trying to move towards some kind of union that's difficult, whether it's in a marriage or a country.
“And it just seemed that Achtung Baby and the album that followed it, Zooropa, was the right thing for us to do in the '90s,” he continued.
Not a nostalgia act
On the topic of nostalgia, Bono reinforced the idea that U2 wasn't playing the album for nostalgia. He compared it to a museum curation of an artist's past work. The Sphere residency was an effort to make fans “re-experience” the album decades after it was originally written.
“It's like an artist does a retrospective because they want people to remember their earlier work. A museum will curate their work from a period and you go and re-experience it some years later,” the U2 singer continued. “It felt like that. It was like an anniversary. It was the right time to remind ourselves, as well as the rest of the world, that we've made this album.
“And some of the themes of unity, or the lack thereof, were present again — because now the wall is starting to be built back up. So I think that song in particular might be newly relevant,” he added.
Three-act structure
During the interview, Bono also discussed U2's Sphere setlist structure. Fans will note that the opening sequence of songs harkens back to their “ZooTV” tour. The singer himself acknowledged this before breaking down the rest of the show, which does differ.
In between the Achtung Baby songs is an acoustic set. This four-song segment of the show varied from night to night with Songs of Surrender-like arrangements of their songs. “All I Want Is You” was played at nearly every show, but the band also played special deep cuts like “Peace on Earth” and “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)” during this part of the show.
Bono called this portion of the show “radical intimacy.” He noted that it's the complete opposite of the sensory overload from earlier in the set.
The show itself closes out with an encore that visits the Las Vegas Strip and the Nevada desert alike. Songs like “Atomic City,” “Vertigo,” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” lead fans on this journey. It ultimately ends with “Beautiful Day.” During the song, dozens of endangered creatures are projected onto the screens. Bono called this journey “catharsis” and dubbed the show a “theatrical arc.”
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Spehre
U2's Achtung Baby Sphere shows was the band's first-ever concert residency. They played 40 nights at the brand-new Las Vegas venue. The band was also the first to play the venue, as Phish and Dead and Company are now up to bat.
Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton were joined by Bram van den Berg for the shows. Larry Mullen Jr. is currently recovering from health issues that kept him out of the shows.
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