“Bonosphere” by Dan Grossman
Courtesy of Unsplash
Bonosphere
Southwest flight 1467 had just taken off over Las Vegas and I had a window seat near the front. Unfortunately, we were experiencing severe turbulence. The Sphere was a mile below. The text on the glowing blue ball read Achtung Baby: Live at Sphere. That was because U2, one of my favorite groups, was performing this evening. It would’ve been nice to see a concert there, I thought as the plane began to spiral downwards, but now I never will. I wondered if there was any causation between the Sphere’s energy suck (equivalent to the draw of 21,000 homes) and the downdraft causing our terminal dive. I shielded my head with my hands to protect myself from the flying cellphones. Our spiral tightened into a vertical corkscrew the diameter of the Sphere. This was, evidently, where our plane was nosediving. The dickhead captain used some standard Southwest irony to massage the situation. “It’s been a distinct pleasure to preside over your final flight,” he ejaculated. “Come fly with us again in the next life.” Moments later the plane’s nose, traveling at terminal velocity, hit the shell of the Sphere at the top. It cracked like an eggshell. Meanwhile my life fried sunny side up, as it were, in my brain-pan. This montage had a hot U2 soundtrack. In one of those film stills, I found myself back in Niger, West Africa, during my Peace Corps service. In my mud hut. I was tuning my shortwave, the size of my palm, to hear U2’s “Even ‘Better than the Real Thing” for the first time. With its Berliner Philharmoniker production, over the bleating of goats in the compound next door, it sounded big. Way too big for my tiny shortwave. Or so I was thinking as I was sucked out of the plane. As I fell into Sphere, the LED walls were lit up like a drug trip. Bono was on center stage (of course he was) in his leather and bugeye glasses. He was unphased by the commotion. He was singing “Even Better” even better than I expected. But the venue was too small for the music. The visuals were a mere distraction. I was glad I hadn’t wasted money on it.
