From code-breaking ceilings to the Nevada desert, U2‘s Sphere shows have it all. One of the oddest set pieces is during “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World.” Bono is seen trancing around the stage with a giant white balloon.
“Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World” is the ninth track off of Achtung Baby. It's one of the more lighthearted songs on the album, a drinking song about stumbling out of a bar. In live settings, the song's meaning seems to have changed.
But what does it all mean?
It comes down to the male ego. While it sounds silly, Bono, for as pretentious and diva-like as his on-stage persona can seem, can be intimate when he wants to. The giant balloon seems to represent the male ego, which needs to be burst. Who better to burst that bubble than his longtime wife, Ali Hewson?
“Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World” and Bono's balloon
During the early shows of the Sphere residency, it seemed like a substitute for U2's old champagne spot. Back in the nineties on the “ZooTV” tour, Bono would usually bring a young woman on stage for “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World.” The young woman would video tape him with a camcorder before the singer would open a bottle of champagne.
In the subsequent years, U2 shelved the song. Until their Sphere residency, which commenced nearly three decades after the “ZooTV” tour ended, the band had resisted playing the song.
But given their residency is commemorating Achtung Baby, they have to play the album in full. Included in the setlist is “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World.” After nearly three decades without the song, how would they reinvent it?
The answer is a giant white balloon. During the early shows, Bono would bring a fan on stage to walk the balloon. The giant white tapestry was attached to the screen which showed an animated balloon.
A message that didn't work
However, even Bono acknowledged that this might have been a misfire. A balloon is no champagne bottle, and the imagery wasn't that clear.
After the first few shows, U2 ditched the idea of bringing a young fan on the stage. Instead, Bono would walk the balloon around before a little pathway illuminated on the stage. It led to a door that the singer would approach. He'd ring the doorbell and speak into the Ring Camera-like device.
“Landlady” origins
The true meaning of the balloon and door symbolism can be traced back to “Landlady,” a track from U2's Songs of Experience. In the song, Bono sings about Ali, his wife, who was there for him well before he was the world's biggest rockstar.
“The landlady takes me up in the air/I go, I go where I would not dare/Landlady shows me the stars up there/I'm weightless, weightless when she is there,” he sings during the song.
I think “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World” is about rediscovering those roots. Bono is once again approaching the door of Ali's, begging to be let back in. Despite the Sphere's gigantic 4k screen, the U2 singer is nothing without his better half.
This is similar to U2's performances of “You're the Best Thing About Me” on the “Experience + Innocence” tour in 2018. After the trio of “Elevation,” “Vertigo,” and “Desire”/”Even Better Than the Real Thing,” a section of the show about the band's rise to dizzying heights of fame, Bono is seen wiping off his makeup.
The “Experience + Innocence” tour was the soft relaunch of Bono's alter ego, MacPhisto. Bono would begin “You're the Best Thing About Me” by wiping off his makeup. The showman was being brought back down to earth by his landlady, and this humanized the oftentimes larger-than-life rockstar that Bono is.
The male ego
“The balloon symbolizes the male ego, which has to be burst,” he revealed during the band's December 15 show. “The door symbolizes, well, your partner not longer going to take any more s**t.”
During U2's Sphere show on November 3, Bono said, “We're not fully certain of the symbolism of the balloon. We just know it has to be burst, and it's something to do with the male ego.”
In the bridge of the song, Bono sings a refrain of the term “man-child.” Perhaps he is referring to himself, a man who is prancing out in front of a crowd of 18,000 a night at the Sphere. Even in his sixties, Bono is doing it like he's in his younger years.
Not flashy, but important
While not the flashiest moment in U2's Sphere shows, “Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World”is the pivotal moment in the show. Songs like “The Fly” and “Where the Streets Have No Name” feature some of the most mind-bending visuals ever seen at a concert.
However, it's this moment of intimacy that proves U2 can go small whilst being the biggest rock band ever. Sometimes, a break from the spectacle is needed. Like Bono, audiences need to be grounded, too.
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere
U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere is the band's first concert residency. The residency commemorates the band's 1991 album, Achtung Baby, by playing it in full for the first time.
Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton are joined by Bram van den Berg for the shows. The Krezip drummer is filling in for Larry Mullen Jr., who is recovering from health complications and thus sitting out of these shows.
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