U2 ended the final night of their Las Vegas Sphere residency by playing the “War” song “40″ for the first time since 2016. The 1983 song closed countless U2 shows throughout the ’80s, and was U2’s 40th show at the Sphere since they opened the $2 billion venue in September 2023.
Observant fans knew “40” was coming when bassist Adam Clayton and guitarist The Edge swapped instruments, a ritual in the group’s early days. “It was 40 days and 40 nights in the desert,” Bono told the audience. “What’s a guy with a messianic complex to do? Here’s a song we wrote in 40 minutes. I opened the sacred text of the Psalm of David. I just read it out loud. That was the text.”
At the start of the evening, they invited “Aehrung Baby” co-producer Daniel Lanois to the stage to play guitar on “One.” Bono traditionally played guitar alongside Edge on the song, but has been unable to play the instrument since he injured his shoulder and arm in a bicycle accident in Central Park in 2014. Lanois and Lady Gaga – who joined the group in October 2023 for “Shallow” and “All I Want Is You” – are the only guests appearing with U2 during the entire Sphere residency.
At the end of the mid-show acoustic set, during which they played Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” in honor of Alexei Navalny in recent weeks, Bono told the audience that something new was happening. “The other day we got a beautiful email from Neil Finn, who wrote this mind-bogglingly beautiful song,” Bono said. “Attached to the email was a version of the song that we can play whenever we want. It’s a new version he made and we’ll try to record it.”
What followed was a stripped-down version of “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” with Bono and The Edge essentially dueting with Finn. “Neither party has anything to do with our record company [über eine Veröffentlichung] spoken, so this may be the only recording that will ever exist,” Bono said. “Please take your cell phones and send this to everyone you know who loves freedom. Maybe send it to people who don’t. There are a few of them here.”
U2’s plans after their stay at the Sphere ends are somewhat murky. They haven’t released a new LP since 2017’s Songs of Experience. This is the longest they have gone without releasing an album since their career began in 1980. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. remains plagued by back problems, although he was in the audience at the penultimate show of the Sphere tour on Friday night sat.
Last year, The Edge told Rolling Stone that they were working on an album that was “guitar-driven.” “That’s not to say we’re turning into AC/DC,” he said, “but we’re going to find a way to use the instrument in a new way as often as possible. For me, it’s still my first love as an instrument.” He declined to give a timeline for when the album might be released. “We’re excited and would love to get it out, but there will be a lot of options and other advice as to when we release new material,” Edge said. “But I just want to say that we are very busy and very inspired to create new material.”