(Arriving in and then) Leaving Las Vegas

Vegas is the perfect place to go for a winter weekend getaway from Northwest Montana. Of course there are hundreds of other warm, lovely places that you can visit to get away from winter, but most of them require more than one flight, and also we wouldn't want to leave after only two days. 

But Vegas? It's a non-stop flight, and even better--it's only fun for about 48 hours and then you're done. You walk around shaking your head at all the crazy things people do when they have more money than sense (sometimes with just a smidge of envy and admiration) and then you're ready to get out of there. It's the ideal weekend break.

AND..... OH MY..... for Christmas our kids bought us tickets to see U2 at the Sphere. Yup. 

U2 at the Sphere!!!!!!

Our son-in-law knows a guy who knows a guy, so they got at least a bit of a discount. I was so afraid it wasn't going to work out (for any one of a dozen reasons--schedule, weather delays, plane going down, etc) that I wouldn't even let myself think about it until we were actually at the airport. 

We've been U2 fans for decades-- Doug is more dedicated than I am, but still they are one of my absolute favorites. Joshua Tree was a formative album for both of us, back when formative albums were a thing. (Are they still? I'm too old to know.) There are a dozen+ of their songs that stop my heart. All the obvious, plus Running to Stand Still, Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World (best bass line ever), Stay (Faraway, So Close), Stuck in a Moment, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Our flight down was delayed by two and a half hours, and the on-time departure would have already been past our usual bedtime, so by the time we got there, we were more than half asleep. But our Uber driver knew exactly what he was doing and took us around a back way until he could turn onto the road that has the Sphere dead center and all lit up like an enormous sparkling planet sitting half a mile in front of you and we both gasped. It's definitely spectacular. 

I had scouted around for something to do Friday night since our U2 tickets were for Saturday. If we'd done the Sphere first, anything else would have been a disappointment, but the Motown Revue at the Westgate on Friday was super fun. In an hour and a half of three minute songs, there was maybe one that we couldn't sing along with. Highly recommended, and the venue is very small so the cheap seats are just about as good as the expensive ones. Two thumbs up from us.

Saturday afternoon we took an Uber to the Springs Preserve, which is normally a garden and arboretum with hiking trails and the Nevada State Museum, but on the particular day we were there, there was a Black History Month festival going on, so there was music and special food trucks and lots happening. Very fun. The museum is not large but it is very well done (I confess I was not expecting dinosaurs).

There is also a re-creation of the original 1905 downtown with a bank, general store, hotel, and train depot, and actual small houses that have been moved to the site and restored, one of which you can go in. Well worth an afternoon, and it gets you away from the Strip for a bit. 

And then there was the concert at the Sphere. It was so good. They may be as old as we are, but they can still do their thing. The whole time before they start, the enormous screen in front of you is a boring visual of rows of concrete tiles that you're just staring at waiting for something to happen. Then the band comes out, the opening riff of Zoo Station starts up, and it looks like the vibrations from the sound are crumbling the tiles away and light comes pouring in and it is breathtaking. 

The concert itself was excellent, but there's also the venue, and the Sphere is practically unbelievable. The spherical screen is the size of four football fields, and it's so huge you lose track of size. We were high enough up that the actual band members were about the size of ants, but a good bit of the concert was projected up on the screen at larger than life size, and the images were so clear and sharp that it felt like we were actually watching the live action. They say there's no such thing as a bad seat and I believe it.  

(I tried for about 45 minutes to upload photos so you could see, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work this time, so you'll just have to imagine it.) (No, it's better than that.)

Toward the end, when the Edge locked in on the intro to "Where the Streets Have no Name" after an extended introduction, it was so perfectly perfect that I started crying. I'm sure they are beyond tired of playing those old songs from the 80s but I've never seen them in concert before and I would have been sad if they hadn't played at least a few. They did that one and "With or Without You."

The whole experience was crazy and amazing. We loved it. They didn't have Larry Mullen Jr (who has had neck surgery and is recovering), but the guy that replaced him seemed to fit right in. I don't think they're going to be at the Sphere much longer, but if you get the chance, definitely go. Also I heard Beyoncé is next and I kind of want to go again.

Details for the concert-shy: We haven't been to many big arena concerts like that because they feel too loud and overwhelming to me, but I had ear plugs (believe me, you can still hear just fine), and I did ok. If it had gone on a much longer I might have faded, but I knew so many of the songs, I was relieved I could stay the whole time. Also, I am terribly prone to motion sickness, but the visuals for this concert weren't of the rollercoaster/cliff-diving type, so there was only one song where I ended up shutting my eyes. Overall, very doable for concert wimps like me.

So that was our amazing weekend in Vegas! This weekend will probably be a lot calmer. And also not 70 degrees. *sigh*