FIRST NIGHT | POP
U2’s dazzling gig sets the ball rolling at the $2bn Las Vegas Sphere
On stage, Bono and the Edge offered their usual polished rock. But when you looked up, you were transported to another dimension
Bono and the rest of U2 were dwarfed by the spectacle of Sphere
RICH FURY
★★★★☆
As Bono, in wraparound sunglasses, launched into Zoo Station at the Sphere, an alarming thing happened. The walls cracked, dust poured out, and it felt like the beginning of a 1970s disaster movie — as if Las Vegas’s latest attraction was about to collapse on our heads and we would be buried in its (no doubt state-of-the-art) rubble. But it was all part of the show. The most sophisticated screen in concert history was simply showing us what it was capable of.
“Where are we?” asked Bono. “Who are we?” They were good questions. The visual onslaught was so overwhelming, the way the vast screen warped the dimensions of its circular space so disorienting, that you could be mistaken for thinking you were part
