Bono on U2’s Las Vegas residency: ‘It’s science in service of art’
By Laura Harding, PA
Bono has said U2’s futuristic new shows are all about “trying to make a connection with our audience” and “trying to make the worst seat in the house the best seat in the house.”
The Irish band have embarked on a residency at the high-tech new venue Sphere in Las Vegas for their U2:UV Achtung Baby show, which features the world’s biggest LED screen.
Frontman Bono said the technology is so impressive it “can bring you to any time and place and make you feel like you’re there. It’s a science project in service to art.”
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, he added: “In the end, this is about trying to make a connection with our audience. That’s what this is about. Trying to make the worst seat in the house the best seat in the house.
“Whether it was jumping into the crowd, whether it was climbing speaker stacks, whether it was early forays into video, this was all just an attempt to get closer to our audience.”
Guitarist The Edge added: “Walking in and actually seeing our stage there… And seeing our instruments and lights and the finished building was quite a moment, to be honest. Because that’s when it really got real.
“Where you’re actually…imagining, “There’s going to be a person in each one of these seats.” And the proximity is incredibly intimate. That’s what’s so amazing.
“It’s 18,000 people, but everyone is going to get this perfect view of the stage.”
The band performed the first show of the residency last weekend and Bono said he wanted the experience to be as primal as a cave painting.
He said: “What we wanted to do was create… It should feel like a cave. We want to strip it of all electricity. We want to strip it of all its technology. And we want to start with the very first expression that people had, which was cave painting.
“You might think, ‘It’s a very science fiction cave you got here.’ But that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to bring it right back to that first moment.
“And that’s how we start the show. I sing, as I did on Zoo TV originally. I sing an Irish melody called Sean-nos.
“Sean-nos is normally unaccompanied singing. It’s the North African influenced Irish. Our music in Ireland has real strong connections with the Southern hemisphere.
“And I won’t have my glasses on. I find my goggles, my fly shades, I put them on. They don’t just change the way people see me. They change the way I see the world. The way the band then performs behind that moment is straight out of the future, with a touch of 1990 in Berlin, in Zoo Station.”
But despite the huge project of the new residency, the band also have their mind on new music with The Edge telling Lowe: “There’s a lot that we have ready and some that need a little dusting off, but will be ready soon. I tell you, we’ve got some amazing new songs. Really exciting.”
Bono added: “Edge has about 100 in the bag. I have about 20… but Adam’s (Clayton, the bassist) got something to contribute. Larry (Mullen Jr, the drummer) will be sitting there going through the bag going, “Yeah, no, that’s s***e. That’s s***e. That’s s***e. Is there anything here that isn’t s***e?” We’ll find 10. And that’s all you need.
“And that’s your reason to exist. If not, U2 should just f*** off. Go live on an island, or go away and be a nuisance somewhere in the world. Useful somewhere in the world. Either will do.
“But if we want to continue as a band, it’s only about one thing. It’s about the text, it’s about the tunes, it’s about the performance. It’s about whether you believe us or not. And we have an extraordinary musical genius in our band. We will try, I will try, to put into words the music he’s making. I make it with him. But it’s Las Vegas or bust, baby.”