U2's Super Bowl Ad Featuring "Spheres in the Sky" Comes Comically Soon After Chinese Spy Balloon Tension

As companies and brands raced to flood the internet with their Super Bowl ads—including Dunkin' and Ben Affleck's collab which totally stole the spotlight—the Irish rock band U2 seemed to make some tongue-in-cheek choices for their big commercial.

The band released a timely Superbowl 2023 commercial featuring "spheres in the sky" to announce the launch of the long-awaited MSG Sphere venue at The Venetian in the fall. "An unidentified object has been spotted over the skies," the ad proclaimed.

Social media was soon drawing similarities between the U2 and the alleged Chinese Spy balloon that made several headlines over the past several days.

The commercial advert, U2-UV Achtung Baby Live at the Sphere, aired during the big game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, February 12, 2023.

What better way to mark their comeback to the stage than with an intriguing ad? It marks a series of concerts in Las Vegas this fall celebrating their 1991 album Achtung Baby and will see the Irish band performing their first live show in four years.

The announcement also came around the launch of the corresponding website, U2 x SPHERE, where fans can register to get all the details. Apart from the advert, another highlight of the news is that the band will be making its first appearance sans their drummer, Larry Mullen Jr., who is recuperating from an unspecified surgery.

According to Variety, Bono, The Edge, and Adam said: "It is going to take all we have got to approach the Sphere without our bandmate in the drum seat, but Larry has joined us in welcoming Bram van den Berg, who is a force in his own right. The Sphere show has been in the works for a long time. We do not want to let people down, not our audience. The truth is we miss them as much as they appear to miss us. Our audience was always the fifth member of the band. Bottom line, U2 has not played live since December 2019, and we need to get back on stage and see the faces of our fans again."

They added, "And what a unique stage they are building for us out there in the desert. We are the right band, Achtung Baby the right album, and the Sphere the right venue to take the live music experience to the next level."

But people on social media questioned the band's timing in releasing the commercial. One Twitter user, @EVargasTV, wrote, "Did you guys make this commercial before the last week?" Another user, @CancelledPapi, said, "Imagine it was all a U2 marketing ploy?" A third Twitter user, @Sosa_1616, said, "Okay, that’s the best marketing I’ve ever seen, even fooled the military."

Apart from the negative, the band's loyal fans too turned up and extended their support. @tassoula wrote, "I can not imagine not supporting the band when they need the fans the most. See you in Vegas." A fan, @scardaaze, showed concern over the drummer's health and commented, "The news is tough, but I am happy Larry is focusing on his health; I’d rather have a healthy Larry with time off from performances, instead of Larry rushing his recovery just for these shows." 

The U2 ad came just a week after the US Air Force plane blew an alleged Chinese spy balloon out of the sky off the coast of South Carolina.