U2 upended the concert world with its new show, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live, which premiered at the mind-boggling Las Vegas Sphere on Friday, September 29, 2023, the opening night of a 25-night residency. This was also the debut of this ground-breaking venue, which measures 516-feet-wide (157-metre-wide) and boasts acres of high-res LED screen that wraps halfway around the 17,600-seat audience. 10,000 of these seats provide an immersive experience with a specialized sound system from Holoplot.
Creative director Willie Williams let his imagination run wild, building on his decades-long history with the band to create the most amazing visual experience. Lighting director Alex Murphy shared the light plots, which illustrate the scope of the lighting (see gear list below) as an exciting entry in Live Design's 2023 Plot Of The Week series. As he explains, there is "a U2 custom rig put in over the top of the Sphere house rig."
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Stay tuned for Live Design's interviews with members of the U2 creative team, including an interview with the lighting director: U2 At Sphere Las Vegas: Alex Murphy Brings Up The Lights
More Sphere stories, click here.
SELECTED LIGHTING GEAR LIST
Fixtures
24 Robe Forte FS
24 Robe Forte
25 Wildfire VS-120 UV
119 GLP JDC1
30 GLP XDC1
60 Chauvet Strike One
36 Astera Hydra Panel with wireless controllers (Not On Plots)
6 Astera AX2 Pixel bar 50cm (Not On Plots)
15 HungaroFLASH Quasar Strobes
Effects
8 MDG The One Hazers (Not On Plots)
Network
12 Luminex Luminode 4
2 Lumicore
10 Gigacore 14R
8 DMX splitter R
8 DMX splitter truss
FOH
3 MA Lighting grandMA2 Full
2 MA Lighting grandMA2 Lite
FOLLOWSPOTS
4 Robe RoboSpot Controllers (Rear Forte Followspots)
1 Follow Me server
1 Track-it sever
1 Follow 6 license
1 Follow Me camera
10 Tags
12 Follow me Anchors
1 Back-up of servers above
PRE-VIZ
2 Pre-viz Machines (Nvidia 4090gfx Cards) with Vectorworks license and Depence R3 with stage license
2 60" Monitors with stands (Computer/Gaming monitors not TV's to reduce latency)
- U2 At Sphere Las Vegas: Alex Murphy Brings Up The Lights
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