No Doubt Brings Orange County To Sphere For Residency Kickoff In Las Vegas

No Doubt launched their highly-anticipated 18-show Sphere residency in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The Gwen Stefani-fronted band delivered a 21-song set that featured plenty of hits, with a few deep cuts thrown in for good measure.

An image of handouts, oranges, ticket stubs and posters from the band’s early days with a “ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA 1987” sign greeted fans on the massive screen as No Doubt took the stage. Gwen Stefani then introduced the show:

“Vegas, you got your seatbelts on? Because I’m about to tell you a little story. Once upon a time in a land 254 miles away, where oranges grow on every tree, some kids found each other and began making some music in the shadow of the Tragic Kingdom. This is our story.”

An animation of Stefani’s bejeweled hand then broke through the screen and swirling visuals led into the band kicking off the show with Tragic Kingdom, the title track of their 30-year-old breakthrough album. “Tragic Kingdom” hadn’t been performed by No Doubt since 2019.

No Doubt went heavy on Tragic Kingdom throughout the night as nine additional tracks from the LP were performed, including favorites “Excuse Me Mr.,” “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak.” The biggest surprise was the inclusion of “The Climb,” which had been shelved for nearly 30 years.

Visuals at the futuristic venue often played off the band’s Orange County roots. “Don’t Speak” was accompanied by images of oranges falling from trees. The Sphere showered fans with foam oranges stamped with the No Doubt logo — a perfect, crowd-surfing keepsake.

Stefani and her bandmates also pulled four cuts a piece cuts from 2000’s Return To Saturn and 2001’s Rock Steady. The former album was represented by “Bathwater,” “Ex-Girlfriend,” “Simple Kind Of Life” and “New,” while tracks from the latter LP played at Sphere were “Underneath It All,” “Hey Baby,” “Running” and “Hella Good.” No Doubt last performed “Running” live in 2012.

The other bustout to make the Sphere setlist on opening night was “Trapped In A Box,” the lone song from No Doubt’s self-titled 1992 debut album played at Sphere. “Trapped In A Box” returned to the stage for the first time since 2002. Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life” was the only cover of the evening, which came complete with photos from each of the band members’ yearbooks.

Gwen Stefani welcomed several female fans to share the stage and help sing “Just A Girl” with her. Another standout visual moment came during “Spiderwebs,” when scenes from the song’s video were refreshed to include newly-created footage of the modern-day band members sporting clothes from the mid-’90s.

No Doubt wrapped the night with a “Sunday Morning” sing-along. The residency continues on Friday, May 8 and runs through Saturday, June 13.

Watch fan-shot video of No Doubt’s Sphere residency opener below:

Check out clips of No Doubt kicking off their run in Las Vegas shared by Sphere on Instagram: