Vegas, Baby

It was not my first time in Vegas. I had been to Vegas about 24 years ago for about a total of 24 hours. I was visiting a friend who was doing an internship in Los Angeles, and we hopped on a one-hour flight to Vegas. We were too cheap to get a hotel room, so we just roamed all night long and snoozed on the floor of the airport before our flight back to LA.

This time, I was going to Vegas for a concert. But not just any concert—a concert by one of my favorite bands in a new state-of-the art concert venue. Yes, U2 at the Sphere.

I had tickets for a show in October…and guess what happened? My partner and I contracted COVID a few days beforehand. I was gutted. I immediately booked flights and hotel for a weekend in December during which there were two U2 shows scheduled. We went to Vegas without tickets because the prices were astronomical. I had read that ticket prices went down the day of the show, and some folks had even gotten tickets at the box office right before the show.

So off we went. I tried not to get my hopes up…but I sure did hope that we’d acquire tickets somehow. Long story short, I did buy tickets off a third-party seller app, for about face value, one-and-a-half hours before the show started.

The concert was fantastic…U2 sounded great and the video was stunning. The seats were so steep that everyone had a good view. I was not thrilled with the steepness, however. It prohibited people from standing up and dancing until the last two songs. There were also stretches without railing along the stairs, which I thought was treacherous. Some people sitting next to us left early and fell as they were going up the stairs.

If you ever get a chance to attend an event at the Sphere, I do recommend it (steepness and treacherousness aside). It’s a unique and immersive experience that I will never forget.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2024. A new year means a new birthday list for me. My 20th?!