As the highly anticipated Sphere at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, NV approaches its grand opening later this year, the state-of-the-art venue continues to expand its initial slate of programming: On Friday, U2 announced the addition of eight new December dates to its U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere concert residency, bringing the venue’s inaugural residency up to a total of 25 shows. Operating company Sphere Entertainment, the new, publicly traded spinoff from Madison Square Garden Entertainment, the originator of the Las Vegas venue project, is also reportedly in talks with various other acts—including veteran Madison Square Garden act Phish—as the venue looks to fill out its schedule going forward.
After months of rumors in late 2022 that U2 would open the unique new entertainment arena, the Irish rockers revealed the first concrete details of their U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere with a Super Bowl ad in February 2023, then confirmed the first five shows—set for late September and early October of 2023—the following day. In April, U2 extended the Sphere-opening residency with eleven additional dates in October and early November. The latest crop of U2 dates at the Sphere, confirmed on Friday, extend the residency into December with eight new performances on 12/1, 12/2, 12/6, 12/8, 12/9, 12/13, 12/15, and 12/16.
Tickets for the newly announced U2 dates at Sphere in Las Vegas will begin at $140 with all-in pricing. There will also be a limited number of premium-priced tickets available for each date. A U2 pre-sale window for paid fan club subscribers will take place from Friday, May 12th at 10:00 a.m. ET through Monday, May 15th at 7:00 a.m. ET. A Ticketmaster Verified Fan pre-sale for the December dates will be available for those who registered for previous U2 Sphere pre-sales. Eligible fans will be contacted directly by Ticketmaster with details the evening of Wednesday, May 17th. Remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public starting Friday, May 19th at 12:00 p.m. ET. For complete U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere ticketing details, head here.
Ahead of the residency, U2’s Bono and The Edge recently gave Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe a tour of the still unfinished Sphere. The 26-minute segment provides fans their closest look yet at the one-of-a-kind entertainment venue. Watch the full video below.
U2’s Bono & The Edge Give Zane Lowe a Tour of Sphere at The Venetian Resort
Even as U2’s grand opening residency continues to take shape, there is still plenty of work to be done ahead of the launch of Sphere. According to a Sphere Entertainment earnings report published on Wednesday, “the Company continues to make significant progress in its final phases of construction of Sphere in Las Vegas. This includes completing LED installation on the Exosphere earlier in the third quarter, and the interior LED display plane this month, while continuing to build out the venue’s interior spaces, including the suites and hospitality areas. … As construction nears completion of Sphere in Las Vegas, the Company has adjusted its construction cost estimate, inclusive of core technology and soft costs, to approximately $2.3 billion, from its prior estimate of $2.175 billion, with the increase primarily reflecting the overall complexity of the project. Actual construction costs paid through May 9, 2023 were approximately $2.08 billion, which was net of $65 million received from The Venetian Resort.”
Related: Construction Continues On World’s Largest LED Screen At Sphere In Las Vegas [Videos]
In addition to construction slow-downs and cost overruns, James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of both Sphere Entertainment and MSG Entertainment is reportedly still trying to fill the venue’s schedule beyond the U2 run. Per a Thursday evening report from the New York Post, “Aside from the 25 U2 gigs, sources told The Post this week there still are no additional acts scheduled, although Dolan is now in talks with Madison Square Garden’s favorite jam band Phish and is close to a deal.” The report indicated that Coldplay is also in talks with Sphere Entertainment about staging a multi-night Sphere run.
Phish would seemingly be a good fit for the 17,500-capacity Sphere. The Vermont-native quartet boasts a long resume of extended runs at Dolan’s “other” arena, New York’s Madison Square Garden, and will add to that total with a seven-night run at The World’s Most Famous Arena this summer. Furthermore, Phish guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio has already been involved in the slow rollout of Sphere’s many new technologies: Back in August of 2022, when New York’s Beacon Theatre, another MSG Entertainment property, installed a scaled-down version of Sphere Immersive Sound, Sphere’s innovative “beamforming” audio setup, a pair of Anastasio solo acoustic shows served as the first performances to utilize the sound system.
While a solo acoustic show seemed at the time to be an unusual choice to break in this high-tech audio system, Sphere EVP & COO Rich Claffey was quick to defend the booking. During a press conference ahead of the unveiling of the Beacon Theatre’s Sphere Immersive Sound setup, Claffey said, “Trey Anastasio is probably the best rock star to debut something like this.” As advanced engineering SVP Stuart Elby added, an acoustic performance relies on the intimate connection between the performer and the audience, on the purity of the sound delivered by the rudimentary instrumentation. In effect, with a solo acoustic show, the onus falls heavily on the sound system to deliver pure, clear audio to the thousands in attendance.
Prior to the Beacon acoustic shows, Trey had stopped by the company’s Big Dome immersive development studio in California to hear what they had been working on. “They were blown away by our content creation studio and by what they heard as far as our audio,” Claffey explained. “He was so impressed with it, he wanted to know more. Of course, Trey being Trey, the greatest guy there is, he just wanted to know more, and here we are.”
At that time, Claffey remained dutifully mum on who might be in talks to play the new Las Vegas arena. “It’s a work in progress,” he told Live For Live Music. “But we’re Madison Square Garden. We talk to everybody.”
Related: MSG Sphere Reveals First “Sphere Experience,” ‘Postcard From Earth’
While Phish’s trips to Las Vegas typically take place over Halloween weekend at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the U2 residency’s billing as “25 consecutive shows” from September through mid-December seems to preclude a Phish Halloween run at Sphere in 2023—although there’s surely precedent for the folks at MSG taking some liberties with the word “consecutive.” Even if Halloween is off the table, however, the 25-date U2 run is currently slated to wrap up on December 16th, leaving the end of December—a time when Phish regularly plays multiple-night runs at MSG—conspicuously open on both the Sphere and Phish schedules.
Click below for a complete list of confirmed concerts at Sphere at The Venetian in Las Vegas. For more information, head to the venue’s website.
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