On Saturday night in Las Vegas, U2 surprised fans with a performance of a new song, “Atomic City,” which they are expected to release before their September 29 residency starts. Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton along with Larry Mullen Jr. were on hand shooting a video for the song on Fremont Street. Mullen won’t be with the band at the beginning of their residency, due to health reasons. Bram van den Berg will play drums at the shows.
U2 Surprise Performance Debuts New Song About Las Vegas
Of course, by now you know about U2’s upcoming residency at Sphere Las Vegas. “U2:UV” starts with sold out shows September 29th and 30th. With this in mind, one of the world’s greatest concert bands decided to debut a new song for their new city of “residency.”
In light of this fact, U2’s surprise performance on Fremont Street in front of the Carousel Bar doubled as a music video shoot. First,they performed an a capella version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The music video for that 1987 song from The Joshua Tree album was filmed on Fremont Street in Las Vegas.
Then, with music video cameras rolling, U2 debuted their new song “Atomic City.” For one thing, the song is about Las Vegas. For the most part, all those glittering neon lights on Fremont Street are the perfect backdrop for a music video performance. If you’d like to watch a smartphone video of this surprise concert on YouTube, click here.
Las Vegas Extras Paid To Attend The Music Video Shoot
All in all, this was not an impromptu performance. With all things considered, you really can’t shoot a professional-looking music video with smartphones. You need lots of video equipment to get the look you want. In fact, according to a report on Variety.com, 250 extras were on the scene for the video shoot.
In case you’re not aware, “Atomic City” was once the nickname for Las Vegas. Basically, that was back in the days when scientists and the military were conducting atomic testing in the nearby deserts. Nevertheless, we do live in an amazing city that brings the biggest entertainment acts to town. And sometimes, they even ride in on a flatbed trailer.