"You guys definitely have to be the first band into the Sphere, because this is the future": U2's live sound engineer on how he persuaded Bono and The Edge to be the Las Vegas Sphere's first resident band

U2's astounding recent residency at the newly constructed Las Vegas Sphere was not only a visual spectacle; the immersive 40 live dates were also a showcase for the futuristic spherical venue’s revolutionary live sound capabilities, harnessing beam forming and wave-field synthesis technology.

But behind such a notably audacious live event, at the world’s biggest spherical building, came years of preparation. In an interview for U2.com, the band’s long-standing live sound engineer, Joe O’Herlihy, shared the preparation he undertook to integrate the band’s setup into the mind-boggling new space, and remembers being blown away by the results: “The sound in The Sphere is absolutely phenomenal,” said Joe, who has been on the road with the band for over 40 years.

O’Herlihy shared that Bono began thinking about the then in-development Sphere – and its Immersive Sound System, developed by Berlin company Holoplot – in August 2021. “[Bono asked] if I could go over to Berlin and see if I could break it.” Joe said, of the system. “That has been my brief since year dot. To be perfectly honest, I tried my level best and I couldn’t break it.”

“I went to Leipzig, to the Congress Messe where there was an exhibition of the sound system – the first time they’d put together sixty of these boxes. They had industry types like myself give it a listen. I was scheduled to have a brief demo, but I was so enthused by the whole thing that I actually stayed for the week.”

U2 - Even Better Than The Real Thing (U2:UV Achtung Baby, Live At Sphere / U2.com Edit) - YouTube

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This incredible setup, dubbed the 'Sphere Immersive Sound' system, is based on Holoplot’s X1 Matrix Array of speakers and encompasses 1,586 fixed speakers, with 300 mobile modules. 99% of which are hidden from view behind the venue's colossal wraparound video screen. The system offers vast control over the sound dispersion in both horizontal and vertical fields. Overall, it comprises 167,000 speaker drivers, amps and processing channels.

Joe brought multitracks of numerous different U2 recordings from various venue types, including outdoor stadiums, the Sydney Cricket Ground and an indoor dome in Seoul, Korea. “I did that to get an idea of the sonic value of all of those. We also played the biggest arena in the world, (the Phillipene Arena in Manilla.)”

These multitracks gave Joe various acoustic situations to work with, but when it came to stress testing the system that promised ‘perfect acoustics’ he was astounded “I ran extremely loud and I ran extremely hard to see if I could break it or now. The sub-bass and all of that energy was second-to-none.”

Joe dubbed the resulting sound a “low-end heaven” which, when delivered at full-pelt gave unprecedented results. “You have to take into consideration that this system was brand new, and hadn’t been used any venue anywhere, so it was a big chance to take. But things like the vocal intelligibility of Bono’s voice… it was almost like he was singing [close to your face]. You feel up-close and personal.”

Coming out of that initial test, Joe wrote Bono and The Edge an email, “My opening line was, ‘this is going to be quite a biblical report’, because this is what happened. My parting shot on it was – 'you guys definitely have to the best the first band into the The Sphere, because this is the future.'”

Thankfully the band agreed with Joe's assessment and U2’s Achtung Baby Live residency spanned an extended run of 40 concerts between 29 September 2023 to 2 March of this year, pulling in over 663,000 people. The concerts were a phenomenal success, and sold both the concept of the venue (which also utilises a 16k resolution wraparound LED video screen to provide a fully immersive experience for concert-goers). It would become the fourth highest grossing concert residency of all time. “We’ve always pushed and pushed, and [decided] we were going to be the first,” said Joe.

Further residencies at The Sphere have included Phrish, Dead & Company and – currently – The Eagles, who have extended their residency until February 2025.