With their string of show stopping performances at Las Vegas' new futuristic tech venue The Sphere, U2 seem as exciting and influential a band as they did 36 years ago when they first performed Darlene Love's Christmas classic 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)'.

Love's track has become a Christmas standard and has since been covered multiple times by prominent artists including U2, Mariah Carey, The Ramones, Michael Bublé, Jon Bon Jovi and the Foo Fighters, and Cher.

However Love has noted that one of her favourite covers of the song was Bono's dulcet take on the beloved Christmas classic.

U2 have only performed 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' in concert on one other occasion.

Back on December 20, 1987, the band closed out their Joshua Tree tour with a gig in Tempe, Arizona at the Sun Devil Stadium. Performances from that show ended up on their Rattle and Hum album. And while that night’s 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' wasn’t included on that album, the band would release a music video of a sound checked rendition of the classic.

A fan captured a video as U2 performed their rendition of  the yuletide classic for the first time in nearly 36 years last Friday at Las Vegas' The Sphere.

Earlier this year it was announced that U2 was due to extend their residency by 11 dates at $2.3 billion The Sphere in Las Vegas due to 'unprecedented demand'. The shows has been described by critics as "a quantum leap forward for concerts" and "an utterly astonishing, admirably raw Vegas extravaganza".

Saturday night was the group's original final night at the venue before their renewed series of shows, U2 will now wrap up their U2 UV: Achtung Baby residency on March 2, with the run totalling 40 shows.

Watch U2 perform their 2023 version of Darlene Love's 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' here: