For the first time, such an event was broadcast live from the $2 billion arena.
While the Grammys took place in Los Angeles this year, the awards ceremony briefly beamed over 250 miles away to U2’s concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas, where the band led by singer Bono performed their new single “Atomic City.”
The performance began on the 150 meter LED screen on the outside of the building before moving into the middle of the gigantic location.
U2 opened the $2 billion Sphere on September 29, 2023 and has played numerous sold-out concerts over the past four months. Every evening they celebrated the songs from their masterpiece “Aehrung Baby” from 1991. Bram van den Berg replaced the ill Larry Mullen Jr. on drums.
The Grammys eye-catcher is now the first opportunity for mere mortals to marvel at the interior of the super high-tech hall in all its glory.
U2 and the Grammys
Of course, the Grammys and U2 have long been a perfect match: Over the last four decades, the Irish have taken home a total of 22 Grammys and received 46 nominations. In 1988 they won the first prize for Album of the Year (“The Joshua Tree”), which they did again in 2006 with “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”. They last performed at the Grammy Awards in 2018, when they performed a medley of Kendrick Lamar’s songs at the start of the show. Later in the show they also performed “Get Out of Your Own Way.”
The big winners at this year’s awards included Phoebe Bridgers (or Boygenius), SZA and Taylor Swift, who once again made Grammys history.