U2 Achtung Baby at the Vegas Sphere - A Sampler

The largest sphere on Earth
• 160,000 square feet of 16K-resolution surround screen
• 167,000 speakers for acoustic beamforming
• $2.3 billion to construct
Gen brought me for my birthday. Nostalgia: the very first concert tickets I ever purchased were for U2... 40 years ago! I somehow expected they would look the same today :)
From the video clip, we gathered in a cement structure propping up a Pantheon dome overhead, replete with digital doves. The Edge brought the walls down with his opening riff to Zoo Station. Even Better Than the Real Thing was self-referential, with a frenetic Vegas strip simulation dripping down from above; the images are Gen-AI renderings of Elvis, descending into the church of Vegas. Then the Sphere became transparent, looking out onto Vegas as if there were no walls (but it was a sim; I could tell it had looping traffic). The buildings were deconstructed by construction cranes to the original desertscape, and the encore felt like a sunrise set at Burning Man. Where the Streets Have No Name seemed apropos. And Beautiful Day was joyful, an ultra-realistic animation of native Nevada wildlife, like a tableau splashed across the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A beautiful birth day indeed!

[@bradarmstrong1656]

Jurvetson, the man who has been to so many places, thought so many bold and creative things, known and helped so many dynamic people, and participated in so much positive change. Thank you for sharing! again!

[@garagemancave666]

Not my first concert but I did see U2 play First Avenue just about 40 years ago as well. And this video has pretty much convinced me to make the trip to the sphere!

[@Krishell]

I can't wait for the 50 hours audiobook about Steve Jurvetsons life. It can't be a second shorter

[@jurvetson]

heh, thanks. This lovely summary has a 427 page compilation at the end backing it up: cloudvalley.substack.com/p/the-final-frontier-with-steve-jurvetson

[@memberHD]

I snuck in to U2 at the Sydney Football Stadium in 1993 for their Zoo TV tour. If I make it back to Vegas while they're still playing I might pay for a ticket finally.

[@MarkFinnern]

Totally lovely.
Are they going to do the Wall with Pink Floyd soon?
Tubalar Bells -- Mike Oldfield?
Oxygene -- Jean Michel Jarre?
Behind the Garden - Andreas Vollenweider?
How I miss Prince I really would have loved to see what he would have made of this opportunity!
One can dream!

[@JaysonHenkel]

The pigeon is not real its an image.....they also had the occasional fluorescent light that would randomly appear

[@awsome00rj]

Hey, thoughts on TMC? @Jurveston