U2 teases MSG Sphere in Super Bowl ad

We see a baby. We’ll name the tyke, “Achtung.”

U2 fans know the reference. The legendary rock band is planning to do a splashy advertisement during Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII on Fox. A band representative released a cryptic, and also very pretty, image of the MSG Sphere at The Venetian with a baby’s head glowing from within. The splendor of the Strip at night is shown in the background.

A link to U2XSPHERE.com is attached, for additional information. That additional information is a larger version of the baby image.

U2 has widely been reported across international media companies to be the opening production at The Sphere. We have reported in this space the first two dates expected to be in late-September, with U2 focusing on “Achtung Baby,” released November 1991.

Madison Square Garden Entertainment confirmed in its quarterly report Thursday that the 18,600-capacity spherical venue will open on the Strip in September.

The celebrated Irish rockers would be the first of between four and six headlining acts. Resident superstars would play two shows per weekend over six non-consecutive weekends for a total of 12 shows.

During Preview Las Vegas on Jan. 23, MSG Entertainment President Lucas Watson confirmed that rotation of shows, without confirming U2 or any other artist, for the Sphere.

The general plan is consistent with Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Byrnes comments Friday that the venue would open in September.

U2 has edged toward leaking the details over the past several weeks.

Frontman Bono told actor and podcast host Sean Hayes last month he could not announce any Vegas plans. But the rock star did say, “We haven’t signed off on it but if we do, if we do sign off on this, I will say that if we can pull off what we’re talking about, it’s not like anything we’ve ever done before. It’s nothing like Las Vegas has ever seen before. If this happens, this will be really extraordinary.”

As we used to say, it’s about time to drop the needle.

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John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.