NEW KID IN TOWN: Sphere in Las Vegas, shown during the recently kicked-off Eagles residency, has made an immediate impact on the live entertainment landscape. (Rich Fury / Sphere Entertainment)
2024 VenuesNow All-Star Arena
Sphere | Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas’ Sphere is both a mind-bending blend of multiple venue types and beyond the normal categories. It’s in a class of generis, yes, but at its heart, it’s an arena. It’s just that it’s an arena that from its earliest days had ambitions beyond the definition of the word.
“Dibble, let’s reinvent live entertainment,” Jim Dolan, Executive Chairman & CEO, MSG Ent. Corp. and Sphere Entertainment Co., allegedly told his technology consigliere David Dibble at a late-night meeting in 2016.
And so they did, opening the 366-foot-tall Sphere in September 2023 with the first of what would be 40 awe-inspiring U2 shows, a residency that stretched to March 2024 and ultimately grossed about $245 million.
U2 and Sphere teamed up to see just what the 160,000 square-foot interior LED screen could do and produced an immersive, hyperrealistic, surreal visual experience, one so striking that at one point it makes attendees feel as if they were inside an ever-shrinking cube. Yes, they quite literally squared the circle. They learned how crisp and precise the Holoplot sound system could be, using audio technology originally designed for German train platforms to produce a best-in-class auditory experience.
When U2 left the building they’d christened, it was Phish who had to follow with a four-day mini-residency in April. Dead & Company was next with their own 30-night run that melded the history of one of the world’s great touring acts with all the futurism of the building. The Eagles began their own long run Sept. 20.
But it’s not just music that makes Sphere sing. The building also hosted the NHL Draft in June, where the league and building, too, made great use of that screen, splashing highlights and stats across the dome. Sure, it was more understated than U2 and the jammy legends that followed, but insofar as hockey drafts go, it was dazzling in the extreme.
That’s what’s made Sphere’s 2024 compelling. It’s moved beyond just a “mere” music venue. In addition to the NHL, it hosted a Hewlett Packard corporate event and in September, its first combat sports event, as UFC honored Mexico with a series of fights interpolated with projections evoking that country’s richest history and traditions with a six-chapter “movie” that carried the action.
UFC impresario Dana White has indicated that stops at Sphere won’t be a regular occurrence. For one thing, the event broke even, grossing $20 million, which is what White said was spent on the production. For another, he has a long-term deal with MGM, which means he has to play the stalwart and also-modern T-Mobile Arena when UFC hits Sin City. Of course, Sphere is special and running it all the time makes it less so. But it was a good proof-of-concept that certain sports could make good use of Sphere’s capabilities. It’s worth bearing in mind that WWE is holding April’s Wrestlemania at Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and the Monday Night Raw that follows is one where the promotion likes to make a splash. Stay tuned.
