I grabbed a ticket as the stars pretty much aligned - I was going to be in Vegas anyway, I usually stay in the Venetian, Achtung Baby is my favourite U2 album, and, after north of a thousand gigs and three decades, U2 are one of the few bands I've yet to see who I'd pay to see. The venue itself is really nice, you genuinely feel like you've wandered into a starbase and wouldn't be shocked to see Kirk and McCoy wandering past, so obviously that hooked me. Vegas being Vegas, card only with avoiding tipping made difficult. I'm fine tipping, but if you're just pouring me a beer, I'm probably not normally going to tip, let alone 18% minimum. The concert itself was good, but tracks were a little slower to account for the bands age, which is understandable, and Bono was happy to let the audience do the heavy lifting on choruses and anything heavy on the throat. You, of course, had Bono being Bono, heading down to the audience (part of the stage ascends/descends), presumably the leper section to do some healing hands shit, a weird bit of theatre with a balloon, and some self-depreciation when introducing everyone. Where I was seated, the sphere's screen was of limited view, but with the stage a screen too, I'd love to see what someone other than Brian Eno could do with it. The visuals were fantastic, don't get me wrong, but it's one hell of a canvas to play with. There were moments you felt the whole stadium was moving upwards too, but that was an optical illusion, even Vegas isn't quite that batshit yet. In between the Achtung Baby tracks you had a few of the other classics such as Desire and Where the Streets Have No Name, so it's not like some bands (hello Iron Maiden) just trudging through an albums tracks and chucking in a few greatest hits afterwards. If you're in town, the Sphere is well worth a visit - even just watching the outside screen is pretty engaging - but if you're going to see a gig there, make sure the act is making the most of it as there aren't any cheap seats.
I was in Las Vegas in October and sadly didn't have time to see the show as my schedule was jammed. I'm back later in January and have tickets. Mid-level (200?) dead centre so should be an amazing view. You don't want to know how much I paid. I also have tickets for the Darren Aronofsky film that plays at the Sphere. Tried to get tickets to Adele at Caesars but the stars didn't align and the prices were even more ridiculous than U2.
We were in 600 block, and had a cracking view, price is insane though, think we paid $500 plus all the fees. My wife wanted to see Adele, but she wasn't playing that week. We debated Kylie, but it wasn't so much the ticket cost as the minimum table spend, which didn't seem to involve food - now, sure, I can burn through a few hundred dollars worth of alcohol, but for the cost I want to remember the gig for the night, not for waking in a Clark County jail with an impending divorce, two restraining orders, and having been slapped so hard by Kylie I'd be wearing an imprint of her palm like a birth mark until the end of days.
