Barry Egan: It was weird without Larry Mullen Jnr, the dome was even weirder – but it certainly wasn’t U2 going to the Las Vegas desert to die

It was a ‘Beautiful Day’ and a beautiful night at the Sphere on Saturday – it may even have been one of the band’s greatest performances

Inside look: U2 launch state-of-the-art Sphere venue in Las Vegas with spectacular concert

There is perhaps a theory that U2 playing a residency Las Vegas – that soulless place where rock music goes to die – was a terrible move. And that maybe it would be the worst idea since Colonel Tom Parker said to Elvis in the summer of 1969 that he should play a residency in the Hilton Hotel in Vegas.

However many billions were spent on the light show, however state-of-the-art and immersive it all was, however it was all talked-up by the media, Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton (minus Larry Mullen Jnr) were perhaps risking their legacy on the biggest gamble of their lives… in a neon city in the Nevada desert where gamblers always lose betting against the house.