U2 At Sphere Las Vegas: Alex Murphy Brings Up The Lights

By Ellen Lampert-Greaux Oct 6, 2023 2:25pm

Friday, September 29, 2023 saw the debut of the impressive 2.3 billion-dollar Sphere that dominates the Las Vegas skyline and the opening night of U2:UV Achtung Baby Live in a 25-night residency that leapfrogs into December dates. With a massive spherical LED screen lining the interior of the venue, how can the lighting even begin to compete? "It's custom rig put in over the top of the Sphere house rig," explains lighting director Alex Murphy, who worked alongside creative director Willie Williams. "Willie is very much the designer. "We would often discuss the look of each song then most of the time he lets me “take the ball and run,” says Murphy.

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After first seeing the LED screen during the construction of Sphere, Murphy notes "I had totally know that is simply like nothing else before. I knew the screen would overpower anything that I do. Even 145 GLP JDC-1 strobes look little if the screen is doing its thing in full throttle. I watch the the audience every night and they really don’t know what to make of the show during the first three songs. Every night this screen amazes me," he adds.

(Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)

"Willie has designed the flow of the show correctly though.The screen is a lot for the audience, towards the middle of the set it takes a rest. Songs like "Acrobat" and "End of the World" take a day trip to the island of lighting and I get to play a lot more," Murphy explains. "There is actually a truck load of lighting behind the screen. But in true Williams fashion you only see them on in two or three cues."

As for the design/tech/preview process: "The team was in Vegas about 50 days before the first show. I know that may seem a lot but once you figure into the time scale that we were loading into a building site it gets less," says Murphy. "We would only have certain times we could work. The second factor is that we were opening the same week as the other attraction of Sphere. "Postcards" is the immersive film that plays on days U2 are not there. Jake Berry [production manager] is a hero for scheduling all of this to work. Most days we would get half a day or an evening off."

There is absolutely no truss hanging from the venue. "It's all about the screen," says Murphy. "Willie and Ric Lipson of Stufish designed the “cranes” that sit behind the stage, which is circular and inspired by Brian Eno's color-changing LED turntable. Each crane has eight Robe profiles on them and four follow spots. I have to say they are the hardest working 12 lights in Vegas. I can send signals from the desk to put them in different presets of hight over the stage. A huge moving light if you wish."

The floor around the band and the stage is "littered with Quasar strobes," as Murphy puts it. "They are possibly my new favorite fixture. Its like an Atomic strobe but nuclear. The output is outstanding and its so fun to see an actual filament cooling down after the flashes again. I have Matt McCormick at Fuse to thank for finding me those strobes. And I’d like to mention the Luminex network system also. It's faultless and we really needed it here," Murphy adds.

"We have consoles all over the venue and we are jumping in and out of the house system. We’ve had a lot to deal with trying to tech a show in a building site. It's been a great foundation. I have Matt Beecher and Tom Hawkes to thank for massaging this into life."

As there are only 25 shows in this run, Murphy notes that he will be "much be there for every show. Formula 1 starts and I run away. We then return after F1 has done its thing." What was his biggest challenge? "The bloody house lights," he confides. "Don’t start me on the bloody house lights."

Take a quick look (video U2)

Production Team

Creative Director: Willie Williams
Production Director: Jake Berry
Production Designer: Ric Lipson
Technical Director: Mike Smith

Lighting Crew
U2:

Lighting Designer: Willie Williams
Lighting Director: Alex Murphy
Key Light: Ethan Webber
Follow Me Spot Supervisor: Tom Hawkes
System Tech: Matt Beacher
Lighting Crew Chief: Christain Reyes
Lighting Techs: Jacob Hunt, Jacob Hinrichs, Ryan Torok, Ezekiel Figueroa

Fuse Technical Group:

Account Manager: Matt McCormick
Project Manager: Alan Peterson
Follow Me Spot Support: Tom Huston