How U2's performance at the Sphere could reshape the future of gigs
The Sphere, even though not yet open, is already a benchmark for those who aim to find new business models for the shrinking music industry
It’s been a long journey for getting here. On the one hand, more than 32 years since the world had met Achtung Baby, the epochal masterpiece that reflected the transition from the ’80s to the ’90s and lighted the path to the Millennium, after which the music industry finally lost its privilege to distribute music on the physical media and the live shows became its spine. On the other hand, the pandemic restrictions that had broken this spine and knocked out the performers for several years but enabled the great uprising of 2023 with the dozens of reunions from Siouxsie and the Banshees and New Order to Pulp and Blur, and new appearances of those who’s always been not far.
U2 have always been here, enabling the links of times for those who still need it. They are near since John Lennon was murdered and Ian Curtis committed suicide. The only ones who are still in the premier league among those who shook up Wembley during the Live Aid (just watch “Do they know it’s Christmas” and try to count who’s still with us and has something intriguing in the pipeline to be released soon). They still connect us with Michael Hutchence and Pavarotti and remind us of historical dramas like the Civil Rights march in Derry or the siege of Sarajevo. This particular property to connect times is in great demand nowadays but not only caused by the obsession of accomplished people to travel to their youth but also to feel the future. If you still think that U2 gigs in Las Vegas next fall is just post-pandemic long awaited shows in the upscale well-promoted venue, then you are right, but it’s more to it than meets the eye.
Twenty-five shows have already been confirmed, up from the initial five planned, and with no single ticket going on general sale. It means something. More deeply, is the encounter of the past (the album that turned 32 this year but sounds even more unique in the current echo chamber the modern music industry has become), the present (with the rock heroes still seeming immortal), and the future (the unique venue in the city of blinding lights which redefine the approach to how shows should be designed in terms of sounds and visuals to reach the connection between the artist and audience that has never experienced before). So yes, that’s not only a matter of diving into the past. It’s the time machine that brings you not only to 1991 but simultaneously to several dimensions in each of which the person can be dissolved and then reassembled again. Probably only the Oasis reunion would have created an equal buzz on the other side of the Atlantic.
U2 in Las Vegas is more than just a show. This is a great comeback for the music industry, with just the partial reimbursement of losses caused by the pandemic, but at the same time with the laying grounds for the future of how we will experience and consume live music. Let me make this bold assumption: with this unique U2 initiative together with Sphere Entertainment we are now seeing the first sprouts of the future of live shows which are connected to so-called gig-hubs in different parts of the globe. And Las Vegas with the Sphere is the first of its kind.
Two significant pillars of a live part of the music industry that we knew until now – world tours and festivals, now are being supplemented with the third one – a hub that attracts people for enjoying amazing musical experiences and encourages a journey. Unfortunately, there is no special data for each ticket sold for seventeen U2 shows to be played this fall. There is undoubtedly a great need for a survey to confirm my speculations. But let's just multiply 20,000 (the official maximum capacity of the Sphere) by 25 (the current number of shows), and we are going to grasp this is about 500,000 individuals who are eager to get there. And here is the basic question: how many people among this 0,5 M, and also among those who were meant to be there if the tickets were much more accessible and there were more shows, are locals? Or at least Nevada residents?
Geography really makes sense. And the fact that the Sphere is in Las Vegas where Harry Reid Airport’s annual traffic for 2022 is circa 50 million (even surpassing pre-Covid indicators), makes my assumptions for having a multi-geographical, and even intercontinental audience on the U2 future gigs. What does it finally mean? Imagine the situation when tours in their classical meaning will be soon substituted by multi-gig residences like U2’s residence in Sphere. For this you need a venue with unique internals, an attractive city that is able to cover a significant geographical region, and, of course, a unique artist that attracts the attention of millions. Leave the tours for beginners or for niche bands. For the groups like U2, Coldplay, Metallica, Depeche Mode, and other current and future monsters the approach based on residency is much more relevant. Even without discussing the sensitive economic question of shifting the logistic costs on the shoulder of the audience. In this new model fans becomes real followers that physically travel not only to see the group in the exclusive venue but also to explore the city and find new impressions. When the taxi to the venue even in the home city costs just two times cheaper than a ticket to a low-cost flight, this makes sense even economically.
Just a short example that we all have. We can see how heavily Metallica invested in their M72 tour with all these functional things but also with the bells and whistles without which it’s impossible to imagine the state-of-art musical show. Watch how Lars Ulrich guides Zane Low around Johan Cruijff arena showcasing all the stuff assembled in honour of just two nights. The architecture of this show is amazing but for what cost of logistics, setting up and dismantling? There is a case to be made that if Amsterdam already would have had its own Sphere, Metallica was capable to stay there for a minimum month without any move around North-Western Europe with the simultaneous covering of the followers from the whole region who would have come to see them.
At least, U2 shows the path that could be taken by the industry. The Sphere, even though not yet open, is already a benchmark for those who intend to develop the market and aim to find new business models for the shrinking music industry. It’s the intersection on which several domains could meet each other and for finally find their own benefits – artists, entertainment companies, streaming platforms, hoteliers, car rental companies, airlines, real estate investment trusts, and city managers.
The entertainment industry of the future will be even more inextricably than now associated with travelling and unique venues, and the music industry as a significant part of it already makes a decisive step into this new era with Achtung Baby reincarnations at the Sphere.