U2 Talk Las Vegas Sphere and More With Apple Music's Zane Lowe
(dkc) U2 members, The Edge and Adam Clayton, join Apple Music's Zane Lowe to reflect on the band's historic residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas and discuss what's next for the iconic rock band, including new music plans and health updates on original drummer Larry Mullen Jr.
U2 tells Apple Music about the landmark residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas -
Adam Clayton: Sphere was kind of amazing. It was a huge gamble going into it. We didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know what to expect. But I think after the first show we realized that we were actually performing in an idiom that is actually going to be the future of how shows are because that immersive experience allows you to have a different relationship with the audience.
And that audience has become very familiar with the rules of rock and roll in as much as video reinforcement has been a part of rock and roll shows for 30 or 40 years now. And there's been no big improvement apart from the size of screens. But this screen is three acres. It goes behind the audience and around the audience. And it's otherworldly. It was amazing to perform our songs in that context and to play with what those images could do.
Zane Lowe: ...I came back and I saw another show. And what really struck me was the difference in how you were playing, just as a band. And it felt very much like the screen was doing its job, but you were very much doing yours. And the screen wasn't carrying really anything for you at all. And in fact, it felt like you could turn the screen off and we were just at a very peak level U2 show. Did you recognize that development as well?
The Edge: Yeah, absolutely. The real diehard fans always bought tickets on the floor where really they're not able to see the screen at all and they absolutely loved the show. From our point of view, one of the biggest selling points for that venue is the sound system, which allowed us to get a completely crystal clear audio to the very back of the building and allowed us to explore a level of intimacy and simplicity that really you couldn't possibly pull off in a stadium setting. So it wasn't just about the screen. But then when we were ready to do something visually big, it was this other turbocharge level. That's the great thing about the film that we've done of the show is that you really feel like you are at the show. And I had this experience, which is mind-blowing, Bono and Adam have yet to have it, where you actually, you get to see yourself play live. And it was shocking and reassuring.
U2 shares updates with Apple Music on original drummer Larry Mullen Jr., who was absent from the Las Vegas residency due to health reasons
Zane Lowe: Someone who has actually had a genuine opportunity to see his friends and band players, Larry (Mullen Jr.) And I wonder how that experience, you can't speak for him, but whatever you can share, how that experience was for him with a fullness of heart to watch you go and do this with Bram who was brilliant, but how that experience was for him.
The Edge: I'd say he probably loved it on many levels and also probably was like, "I can't wait to get back there. Oops, sorry."
Zane Lowe: That's what we want. We want him to not wait to get back to his drum stool.
The Edge: Yeah, no. So the great news is Larry is getting better every week and we'll be making a racket with him in no time. So we're very excited about that.
U2 talks to Apple Music about what's next for the band, including plans for new music
Adam Clayton: If all the world is a loop, I think we've got to the point where we've pushed things as far as we can in terms of adding extra things into the band. And now we want to go back and take the layers off and get down to what the band does really well, which is to play live in a room. There's a freshness to that now. And I don't know if there's many bands that can still make records that way. So that's what we want to explore. Now, it won't be all that we do. We've acquired a few other skills along the way, but it's certainly something we want to do on the next record.
The Edge: ...for me, music speaks in ways that we don't even fully appreciate as a listener. We just feel it. We understand it in a deep way, but we're not necessarily conscious of what it is we're hearing. So I think music made in real-time, in a room with musicians interacting with one another, it just is a narrative, a sonic narrative which you just cannot create using a different approach, using layering and drum loops or whatever.
I love that as well, so don't get me wrong, I'm not purist in any sense. But I feel like the culture shifts and morphs based on what feels fresh, what's been overplayed, what's been underplayed. I do think that sort of music made in real-time has been underserved for the last number of years and it's started to feel really fresh again. And that's, I think, why people are really loving going to see bands play live is because that's what they're receiving, in that experience, is something happening in real-time on-stage. And I think albums that have that energy and that quality, I think are going to be really interesting for people over the next little while. I think we're in a good place to make an album like that because that's what we started out doing. We, as a band, found our creative chops by playing live in front of an audience and by necessity had to keep things quite simple. And I think that's hopefully the hallmark of the next collection of songs.
Listen to the full episode live for free today, October 24 at 9am PT / 12pm ET, or anytime on demand with an Apple Music subscription here.
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