It's a huge day for U2 and its fans. The Irish quartet opens its U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency at the new Sphere in Las Vegas tonight, performing its “Achtung Baby” album in its entirety along with selected other material. In conjunction with that the group is also releasing “Atomic Baby,” the new single that it played live on Sept. 16 during a music video shoot on Las Vegas' Fremont Street. The announcement of the single describes “Atomic City” as “an homage to the post-punk gods that have come before them including Blondie and Giorgio Moroder, as well as the city of Las Vegas itself.” During the video shoot, meanwhile, U2's Bono described the song as “a rock 'n' roll 45 in the tradition of 70s post-punk, Blondie, the Clash, some '70s punk…”
“Atomic City” is so far a single only but the group members have spoken about a working on a new album that's upbeat and aggressive. Bassist Adam Clayton tells us that's definitely the direction he sees the band pursuing: “I think we're feeling that music has kind of got stuck a little bit…. etc…that we were excited by as teenagers.” :36 (OC: as teenagers)
U2 currently has 25 shows booked at the Sphere through Dec. 16. They'll be the band's first without drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who's taking this year off to treat and recuperate from various injuries he's accumulated over the years. Bram van den Berg from the Dutch band Krezip will be filling the void, though Mullen did take part in the “Atomic City” video shoot.
The Sphere is a joint project between the Madison Square Garden Company and Las Vegas Sands Corporation and part of the Venetian Resort, locate just east of the facility on the Las Vegas Strip. The outside of the venue is a 160,000-sqare-foot LED screen with 16K resolution, while the Sphere also boasts state-of-the-art sound, lights and multi-sensory effects inside.
