U2 at the sphere is over. Has anything changed?

We were told by U2, and the people that own the sphere, that the sphere would represent a radical change for live music. Has it?

The sphere, like the ABBA show in London, won’t change anything at all, in the great scheme of things. We’re told it will, of course, so rich people can get even richer by selling tickets most people can’t afford. But really, people just want to see good old fashioned live music. I’d much rather watch Taylor Swift in a stadium full of people going crazy than u2 phoning it in, while the audience sit motionless because all they’re doing is being impressed by technology that will be out of date in 10 years. Similarly, the ABBA ‘experience’. I get that it’s all very clever, and I truly love ABBA, but I guarantee this kind of thing won’t become the norm, even when geriatrics like the stones kick the bucket.

Where are the options for "im so confused i don't know anything" and "everything is shite"

Where are the options for "im so confused i don't know anything" and "everything is shite"

They’re over in my ‘vs’ polls.

I would have liked Bono to have done this during Vertigo.

https://youtube.com/shorts/nYn6HIoPUW4?si=c9-O1JU0l1qsNLDv

The Sphere is meaningless.  It is nothing.  It is less than nothing.  Like all popular culture post 2015 or so.  It is simply nothing.

I don’t even think bands will play there going forward. It will be mostly used as a cinema.

Bono is aging rapidly

I can still remember the fuss over IMAX when I was a kid.  The Sphere is kind of like that, only frictionless and spherical, like Bono's ideology.

Very good.

I just don’t think it’s going to take off as a live music venue and the claims of u2 and their cronies were at best ‘optimistic’. For a start, the stage is way too small. Postage stamp size from most seats. There is zero intimacy, and its main selling point - the big screen - totally overwhelms any sense of being at a concert. Bands that have played so far are:

U2
Phish - I’ve never even heard of them
Dead & Company - some doddery old rockers from the grateful dead

Currently, all they’re doing is showing a movie. I doubt many big name acts will play there in future because of the nature of the building. Also, why bother playing a ‘residency’ if you’re, for example Coldplay, when you can play 3 nights in a football stadium to the same amount of people as 9 nights at the sphere?

Much like with the 360 tour, the whole Sphere thing was another instance of where the music played second fiddle to the Stage setup. It should ALWAYS be about the songs.
The Sphere is nothing more than a glorified home cinema experience

I actually have heard of Phish.  I do not know any of their music but I know they exist.  Like Las Vegas, I know that they exist.

I agree.

One could of course argue ZOOTV was no different. A huge stage where it’s arguable people were watching the band. Even so, ZOOTV was different from 270 and the sphere in these ways:

1 - It was genuinely groundbreaking
2 - it had a well thought out concept behind it; 270 was just big for the sake of it
3 - the excitement around u2 at the time was huge
4 - u2 were still at the peak of their powers
5 - the industrial design of ZOOTV looked great! 270 is probably the ugliest stage set I’ve ever seen and the sphere didn’t have a stage set as such. Just a massive screen.

So, yeah. ZOOTV for the win.

I can still remember the fuss over IMAX when I was a kid.  The Sphere is kind of like that, only frictionless and spherical, like Bono's ideology.

Bono said that Phish is a band that has to believed to be seen. Once you stop believing in them, they vanish in a puff of smoke.