April 12th, 1987 U2 play the first date of the Joshua Tree tour at Thomas and Mack Center, then go make the music video for “I still haven’t found what I am looking for” on Fremont Street.
November 12th, 1992, U2’s first stadium show, the sensory overloaded Zoo Tour, plays Sam Boyd Stadium.
April 25th, 1997, after a full week of rehearsing at Sam Boyd Stadium, the Pop Mart Tour opened in Las Vegas. The stars came out-Cameron Diaz, David Schwimmer, Trent Reznor and Michael Stipe to name a few.
November 18th, 2001, U2 return to the Thomas and Mack Center on its Elevation Tour. A runway shaped like a heart jutted out halfway onto the floor. It was filled with lucky fans.
November 4th, 2005, U2’s Vertigo tour, for the first time play a venue other than Thomas and Mack Center or Sam Boyd Stadium when they play MGM Grand Garden.
October 23rd, 2009, Daren Libonati convinces U2 to play the smallest stadium on the tour. The U2 360-degree tour, better known by its famous stage—the Claw, was the first major stadium tour to play in the round.
Which Vegas U2 show did you see?
2017 Joshua Tree Tour-Sam Boyd Stadium finally too small for U2 tour. 2020 cannot come soon enough. US Bank Stadium has done three shows already (Coldplay, Guns n’ Roses and U2).
County Commissioner/LVCVA Board member, Larry Brown and I took a one day trip to see Minneapolis’s new stadium, US Bank Stadium and U2. We landed tickets on the floor. Unfortunately, everyone on the floor was standing (GA). Fortunately, these two 60 plus seniors, found two people who decided not to come and used their seats.
The first thing you notice about US Bank Stadium is there is no parking at the stadium. No parking! We made the mile walk from our hotel and back. In as much as there is pressure to provide parking at our stadium, with on-site parking you have snail paced traffic. Give me less parking.
During the concert, Bono played homage to Willie Williams by having the crowd sing happy birthday. Williams is the genius behind the sets, stages and production of U2’s show. He delivered again.
A curved, 200-by-45-foot screen, as bright as the one in your living room, towered across the back of U2’s stage, which featured a runway that ended in a Joshua Tree-shaped satellite stage. That screen didn’t light up until the band got into “Where the Streets Have No Name,” the opening track of “The Joshua Tree.” Moody, prerecorded footage filled the screen for “Streets” as well as “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With or Without You.”
U2 ended strong with an encore of post- ”Joshua Tree” hits, including “Beautiful Day,” bits of several Prince songs, including “Let’s Go Crazy” in “Vertigo” and “Purple Rain” during the show-closing “One.” In the end, U2 offered enough transcendent moments to make the evening a memorable one,
Rock Vegas 