Demand for "U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere" tickets was huge - the Irish band sold out all 17 shows during the presale on Thursday, April 27, amounting to nearly 300,000 tickets.
U2's residency in Las Vegas from September 29 and November 4 will not have general sale tickets available, Ticketmaster announced last week.
UPDATE for U2 in Las Vegas: Due to extremely high demand from the https://t.co/H54Gi5S8GZ Subscriber Presale and today’s Verified Fan Presale, there will not be a General Onsale.
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) April 27, 2023
U2 – sans drummer Larry Mullen Junior, who is sitting the shows out because of an injury to his hand – is in the process of crafting a new show specifically designed for the Sphere, said to be a groundbreaking, technologically unique new venue that will cater primarily for concerts and other cultural events.
A report in Ireland’s Sunday Business Post indicated that U2 could come away from their Las Vegas shows more than $100 million richer.
“The residency format in Las Vegas will mean lower costs and higher profits for the band’s first live shows in four years. Tickets for the concerts start at $140, earning the group €2 million a night at a minimum, assuming the standard fee of 90 percent of the face value of tickets,” the report said.
“The real figure is likely to be significantly higher once higher-priced tickets and corporate packages are taken into account.
"Over the course of the sold-out 17 non-consecutive night run, the band should comfortably clear €75 million and may well surpass €100 million or more. The revenue will likely grow even higher when merchandising sales and media rights such as concert footage are negotiated.”
U2's lead guitarist The Edge indicated in a recent interview with Variety that the band is up for creating a totally different show – which will be centered around its seventh album, "Achtung Baby," released in 1991 – that fans will forever remember.
“But it’s the venue and it’s the technology that is really the catch for us, and the hook. Because when we found out about what this venue was really offering us creatively, we just were completely intrigued. And the more we found out, we kind of saw it as a throwdown … as a challenge,” he said.
“You know, it’s like we’re the band that famously asks our creative team, as we’re first putting a tour together, you know, we sit them down and we ask them the same question: ‘OK, what’s never been done before?’
"And performing in the Sphere is the ultimate opportunity to be the first band in there, to really explore what could be — and I think may well be — a kind of brand new creative genre. It was just such a kind of alluring possibility. And we looked hard at it for a while, because there’s jeopardy there — of course there is.
"But we just are suckers for something like this, a real creative challenge.”
Drummer Bram van den Berg of the Dutch rock band Krezip will fill in for Mullen, and Edge says the rehearsals so far have gone to plan.
“They’ve been fun. The material, again, is so strong. And our stand-in drummer, Bram, is doing an incredible job. I mean, they are some serious shoes to fill, and Larry is one of the greatest drummers of his era, so that’s in no doubt.
"But Bram is doing an incredible job, and I think everyone will be very happy when they get to see us live. The songs are sounding incredible, and it’s just so much fun to play them again. We just had a real blast in the rehearsal room,” Edge said.
There is speculation that the band will add additional dates to its Las Vegas run, but Edge, in his interview, said six weeks would likely be the maximum. There are a few other dates available at the Sphere before the end of the year, specifically one weekend, November 10.
*This column first appeared in the May 3 edition of the weekly Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.
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