Traffic travels past The Sphere while it shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The Sphere shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The Sphere shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Spectators photograph The Sphere while it shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, as seen from the Encore parking garage on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The Sphere shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, as seen from the Encore parking garage on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The Sphere shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, as seen from the Encore parking garage on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Visitors to the Las Vegas Strip view The Sphere on the pedestrian bridge over Sands Avenue between the Wynn and the Palazzo on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. The Sphere is displaying an advertisement for its opening act, U2, which will inaugurate the venue next month. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Visitors to the Las Vegas Strip view The Sphere on the pedestrian bridge over Sands Avenue between the Wynn and the Palazzo on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. The Sphere is displaying an advertisement for its opening act, U2, which will inaugurate the venue next month. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The Sphere shows an advertisement for its opening show, U2, as seen from the pedestrian bridge over Sands Avenue between the Wynn and the Palazzo on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The Sphere is showing off again.
Tuesday night the bulbous conversation piece broadcast the “U2 UV: Achtung Baby” venue launch. The video show started promptly at 8 p.m. and was to run until 11 p.m. U2 opens a month from the show, Sept. 29.
The venue took on various shades of purple, blue and green as the now-customary crowd of onlookers gathered on the Sands Bridge between Palazzo and Wynn Las Vegas.
The presentation was to continue through the night. The branding was powerful, putting the U2 production in prominent position. But it didn’t compare to previous displays of the jack-o-lantern, aquarium, moon and the fireworks show that kicked off the dazzling shows on July 4.
Mike Gunning, who runs a few hardware stores in Indianapolis, is in town for the Retail People Solutions conference. His group is staying at the Trump, and walked across the Strip just to catch the show.
“This is kind of boring, at this minute, compared to what we saw last night,” Gunning said as he gazed through the bridge’s glass panels. “Last night was very interesting. The aquarium was pretty neat. Bring back the pumpkin.”
