No Doubt Turn Back the Clocks at Sphere Residency Kickoff

By Angie Martoccio

Angie Martoccio

No Doubt launched their residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Wednesday, playing a nostalgic-heavy set packed with rarities.

The band — Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont, and drummer Adrian Young — kicked off the set with the title track to 1995’s Tragic Kingdom, their first performance of it since 2009. The album opener “Spiderwebs” is typically reserved for the end of each set, but they played it five songs in, confirming it was bound to be a special evening.

The rest of the set featured beloved hits like “Underneath It All” and “Don’t Speak,” and deep cuts like “The Climb” (first since 1997) and “Trapped in a Box” (2002). They capped it off with “Just a Girl” and “Sunday Morning.”

Over at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Blake Shelton spoke about Stefani, and missing his wife’s show so he could play his own. “She’s over there, at the other venue,” he told the crowd, joking that his manager is to blame for booking the couple “on the exact same nights, every single night.”

Prior to the Sphere kickoff, the members of No Doubt indicated in interviews that the residency would lean into nostalgia. Stefani told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that it’s really for the fans. “I want people to come and make it feel really nostalgic, like they’re back in time,” she said. “Like, ‘Remember this? Remember this, guys? This is what we did together.'”

In a recent Rolling Stone interview with Young, the drummer confirmed they’d revisit “both the music and the aesthetic” of Tragic Kingdom. “There’s definitely more of that in the set than we’ve done in recent years,” he said. “I won’t give too much away, but there’s a nostalgic feel.”

Trending Stories