The Overhang: U2 at the MSG Sphere - General Discussion Thread Part 2

[Headache in a Suitcase]

SURPRISE! ZOO STATION: A U2:UV EXPERIENCE IN VEGAS

Headed to Las Vegas for the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere shows beginning next month?

We are delighted to announce Zoo Station: A U2:UV Experience, a fan portal comprised of more than 12,000 square feet of interactive exhibit space across two floors of The Venetian© (the only resort with direct access to Sphere).

The exhibit will include a retrospective of Anton Corbijn's photography and videos, a pop up shop with exclusive merch, and a Zoo TV Cinema—an intimate theater where films curated by The Edge, including rare and unreleased concert footage, will screen daily.

Zoo Station, which opens to the public on September 28, is a cutting-edge, multimedia interactive love letter to fans developed in collaboration with Gavin Friday, U2's longtime Creative Director. It is intended to serve as a central destination and hub for fans, where they can congregate, celebrate, indulge in a little retail therapy, view exclusive U2 content, and immerse themselves in the band's musical and creative history.

Admission to Zoo Station is free, except for special film screenings in the Zoo TV Cinema. (More information on that below.)

The exhibit borrows its name from 'Zoo Station', the opening track of U2's groundbreaking album, 'Achtung Baby', and the nickname of the Zoologischer Garten—the actual train station in Berlin's city center located not far from the legendary Hansa Studios where the band recorded much of their seminal 1991 album.

Zoo Station, which will be open daily Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., allows fans to experience the origins of and inspirations behind Achtung Baby and its accompanying industry-defining Zoo TV Tour with its vision of a technologically-charged future. From the historic train station entrance, a life-sized subway car, and a vintage Trabant (the East German automobiles that symbolized for U2 the epic changes that were happening in early-1990s Europe) to state-of-the-art sound design and an interactive Satellite of Love media station, the exhibit displays viscerally conjure the iconic magic of the band's Zoo era.

The industrial train station aesthetic of Zoo Station's ground floor gives way to a more modern, futuristic environment on the second floor that pays homage to shows at Sphere at the band's propulsive technological, stagecraft, and sonic innovations in live music.

Highlights of Zoo Station include:

Anton Corbijn Gallery: A retrospective exhibit of the famed Dutch photographer, featuring rotating photos and videos from throughout Corbijn's five decades as a close collaborator with the band. Corbijn has personally curated the exhibit space.
U2 Pop Up Shop: This unique retail location will feature new, exclusive band merchandise, and a variety of musical titles. A capsule collection of limited-edition products made exclusively for this experience will be available throughout the run of the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere shows.
Zoo TV Cinema: Curated by The Edge, the theater will screen five films daily, including rare and unreleased concert footage from U2 shows around the world, as well as new short films 'Beyond the Tour', 'A Day in the Life of The Edge', and more. Tickets for the screenings are $15. Information about ticket purchasing and the screening schedule will be released in the coming weeks.
Fans also can visit the Fly Bar for drinks and more interactive art.
The entrance to Zoo Station will be located in The Venetian Resort's Waterfall Atrium, steps away from The Palazzo Casino floor.

 

[prbiker15]

Oh! I am definitely checking that out.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

looks like it opens the Thursday before the first show.

 

[DeVaul]

Please let the merch be good

 

[Miroslava]

Please let the merch be good

Agree, because right now I am at full shut up and take my money mode.

 

[theoeiii]

Please let the merch be good

I don’t think the merch has been very good in like 30 years. Unless you like long sleeve T’s with the band’s faces on them. Woof.

 

[DeVaul]

Agree, because right now I am at full shut up and take my money mode.

Very much this

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

please let them sell the tour shirts at the merch shop on thursday so i can make my purchase when crowds aren't huge and be done with the whole thing.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

the head cheese at the facepalm page claims to have spotted willie williams, joe'o, etc. no sign of johnny wang yet.

my guess is proper rehearsals begin next week.

 

[DeVaul]

please let them sell the tour shirts at the merch shop on thursday so i can make my purchase when crowds aren't huge and be done with the whole thing.

You starting the merch line list?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You starting the merch line list?

who says i haven't already?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

U2songs with a good point... the background to that new logo matches up fairly well with the stage designs we saw in the Sphere preview video from way back when.

 

[DeVaul]

Brian Eno indirectly produced the stage for them, or something like that

 

[lazarus]

This Zoo Station exhibit is the coolest thing the band has done in quite a while.

It will make spending any time in Vegas before the show a little less agonizing.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[ascender_RS]

i would not be opposed to a t-shirt with the U2:UV neon logo on it.

i have been opposed to most U2 concert t-shirts over the last few tours, but I could rock with that. maybe minus the smurf's butthole behind it, but whatevs.

i hope they open the merch stands in venitian during the day so i can give them the $1,500 it will cost for the t-shirt and return it to my room.

Yeah, it looks pretty damn good to me.

How amazing would it be if common sense prevailed and you could just buy all your tour merch from that place, stick it back to your hotel room and not have to deal with the inevitable queues on the night.

 

[DeVaul]

Yeah, it looks pretty damn good to me.



How amazing would it be if common sense prevailed and you could just buy all your tour merch from that place, stick it back to your hotel room and not have to deal with the inevitable queues on the night.

Foos, Metallica and others have set up off-site pop up shops for tour merch and they’ve worked wonderfully. And those were for stadium tours.

The FB Sphere group is probably accurately representative in that it’s full of idiots. So expect even fewer people actually clued in to the thing’s existence.

 

[lazarus]

The FB Sphere group is probably accurately representative in that it’s full of idiots. So expect even fewer people actually clued in to the thing’s existence.

My friend added me to a FB group for Taylor Swift fans attending the 6-show run at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, and while they are a very generous, helpful bunch of people, I don’t know that I’ve never seen such a display of a lack common sense, street smarts, etc.

Countless people per day asking absolutely boneheaded questions to the extent that I wondered how they manage to dress themselves every day or order food at a restaurant, let alone something with logistics like air travel. Then you had all the sheltered white people warning out-of-towners that if they walked more than a block beyond the venue limits they’d be kidnapped/raped/murdered etc. (thankfully some pushback from more enlightened locals on those posts).

I would expect U2 fans to be somewhat less remedial because *olds* but…yeah.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

My friend added me to a FB group for Taylor Swift fans attending the 6-show run at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, and while they are a very generous, helpful bunch of people, I don’t know that I’ve never seen such a display of a lack common sense, street smarts, etc.



Countless people per day asking absolutely boneheaded questions to the extent that I wondered how they manage to dress themselves every day or order food at a restaurant, let alone something with logistics like air travel. Then you had all the sheltered white people warning out-of-towners that if they walked more than a block beyond the venue limits they’d be kidnapped/raped/murdered etc. (thankfully some pushback from more enlightened locals on those posts).



I would expect U2 fans to be somewhat less remedial because *olds* but…yeah.

Oh you just described the U2 Sphere group to a T

 

[Hewson]

This is for you, Hewson

View attachment 13890

This is what greets me upon my return from vacation.
More made up stuff to make me think the fine folks on the Spear FacePalm page are ludicrous imbeciles.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The insanity is only going to increase over the next four weeks. Getcha popcorn ready

 

[clerks]

.

Guess I hit a nerve Headache.

Don't mind Headache he's got a BIG HEAD like Eli Manning. He's just an asshole New Yorker type at heart. They can't help it.

I love when it everyone comments, good bad or ugly.

I hate and love everyone equally on here.

 

[rosephile]

Balanced, like the Force?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Thanks, Clerks.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The facepalm page had a post about "what happens in the group stays in the group."

Think they're talking about you, Hewson.

 

[DeVaul]

Looks like there have been some ticket drops across a bunch of shows, even some GAs in Oct and Nov.

 

[trevgreg]

Looks like there have been some ticket drops across a bunch of shows, even some GAs in Oct and Nov.

Yeah, the one I'm looking at opened up a bunch of seats in the middle section. Still in the 400-500 range though. It had a few drops on the side for 267-400 too, although those appear to have been scooped up quickly.

 

[ascender_RS]

I think I just saw someone on that group ask if people thought the venue would be hot or cold...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You did

 

[ascender_RS]

You did

?