U2 play first Las Vegas residency show and debut secret segment

U2 kicked off their Las Vegas residency at the new MSG Sphere venue last night (September 29) – see clips from the show and the full setlist below.

• READ MORE: Kiss The Future review: U2’s historic gig in war-torn Sarajevo 

The Irish rock band’s residency is centred on a full play-through of their seventh album, ‘Achtung Baby’ (1991) but, as confirmed by reports, the setlist will be broken up by a secret segment focusing on a different U2 album.

Variety reports that singer Bono revealed to the crowd the they plan to focus on a different album (or possibly other people’s albums, he added, teasingly), however, he didn’t clarify whether that would mean a setlist switch-up on each of the residency’s 25 shows.

Last night U2 played the first eight songs of ‘Achtung Baby’ before breaking into a four-song secret segment of their a hybrid live/studio album ‘Rattle And Hum’.

The band’s debut residency gig, which opened on the same day that they released their first new song in two years, ‘Atomic City’, was attended by a host of famous faces including Paul McCartney and Snoop Dogg. NME writer Damian Jones also confirmed that Dr Dre and Flavor Flav were at the concert.

Ahead of performing ‘Angel Of Harlem’ from ‘Rattle And Hum’, Bono said: “The macca [McCartney] is in our prescience. It’s like Mozart is in our presence.

“This is not a song we stole from The Beatles. We stole this from Bob Dylan,” the vocalist continued before dedicating the song to the late Billie Holiday.

U2 also excerpted the Elvis Presley classic ‘Love Me Tender’, Frank Sinatra‘s ‘My Way’ Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’, Van Morrison’s ‘Into The Mystic’ and Thin Lizzy’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight.’.

They rounded off the show with their song ‘Beautiful Day’ followed by a medley blend into The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) and ‘Blackbird’.

Watch U2 perform ‘Angel Of Harlem’ and ‘Atomic City’ in clips filmed by NME (videos from elsewhere are further below) – and see the full setlist.

Here’s U2 playing ‘Angel Of Harlem’ at The Sphere in Las Vegas pic.twitter.com/Bb184TVnGv

— Damian Jones (@damianjones1) September 30, 2023

Here’s U2 playing their new single ‘Atomic City’ at The Sphere in Las Vegas tonight pic.twitter.com/0V5Ghs20mG

— Damian Jones (@damianjones1) September 30, 2023

Setlist:

‘Achtung Baby’ part one:
01. ‘Zoo Station’
02. ‘The Fly’
03. ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’
04. ‘Mysterious Ways’
05. ‘One’/’Purple Rain’/’Love Me Tender’
06. ‘Until The End Of The World’
07. ‘Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses’
08. ‘Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World’

‘Rattle and Hum’ interlude segment:
09. ‘All I Want Is You’
10. ‘Desire’/’Love Me Do’
11. ‘Angel Of Harlem’/’Into The Mystic’/’Dancing In The Moonlight’
12. ‘Love Rescue Me’

‘Achtung Baby’ part two:
13. ‘So Cruel’
14. ‘Acrobat’
15. ‘Ultraviolet (Light My Way)’
16. ‘Love Is Blindness’

Encore:
17. ‘Elevation’/’My Way’
18. ‘Atomic City’
19. ‘Vertigo’
20. ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’
21. ‘With Or Without You’
22. ‘Beautiful Day’/’Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)’/’Blackbird’

A look inside the immersive MSG Sphere arena in Las Vegas, which opened with a U2 concert.

The 18K resolution wraparound LED screen measuring 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m²) with 166,000 speakers. The largest and highest-resolution LED screen in the worldpic.twitter.com/sHid0DEuZu

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 30, 2023

Meanwhile, U2 have spoken about drummer Larry Mullen Jr playing “up a storm” in the studio when recording their new single ‘Atomic City‘, despite being saddled with surgery recovery. Krezip drummer Bram van den Berg is filling in for Mullen Jr at the residency shows in Las Vegas.