The Sphere Las Vegas: An Immersive Experience Like No Other
The Sphere Las Vegas: An Immersive Experience Like No Other
The Sphere at the Venetian is the new kid in town at the vibrant entertainment scene in Las Vegas. The Venetian Resort’s newest addition, located just east of the hotel, is an innovative performance venue that has quickly become a must-visit in Sin City. With its state-of-the-art technology and unique design, the Sphere offers a one-of-a-kind experience — including the first-ever U2 Las Vegas residency.
Inside The Sphere Las Vegas
Initially scheduled to open in 2021, the Sphere held a construction cost of $2.3 billion, establishing itself as the most expensive entertainment venue in Las Vegas history. It features a massive LED exterior and a futuristic, globe-shaped design, the Sphere doesn't look like anything else in town. Inside, guests can enjoy a fully immersive environment with cutting-edge acoustics and visual effects.
The Sphere's seating arrangements can accommodate thousands of guests, making it an ideal space for hosting concerts, audiovisual experiences, and other special events. Its versatile design allows for various setups, ensuring the best possible view of the stage while taking in the entire experience the venue was designed for.
Everything You Can Expect from the Sphere
Standing at 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, it is the largest sphere globally, encompassing an interior of 160,000 square feet. Social media has filled up with images of Vegas tourists seeing the Sphere from everywhere on the Strip — and it’s actually bigger on the inside. The venue has a seating capacity of nearly 18,000 people and can host up to 20,000.
Sphere features the world's largest LED lights, totaling 1.2 million lights the size of hockey pucks. Its exterior is adorned with a 54,000 m² LED screen, while the interior showcases a 15,000 m² screen with 173 million pixels, rendering it the highest resolution screen globally. It is also equipped with speakers utilizing beam-forming and wave field synthesis technologies and has the capability to create 4D physical effects.
Environmentally Conscious Design in Sin City
One of the highlights of the Sphere is its emphasis on sustainability. The Venetian has made strides in green practices and certifications, so it's no surprise that their hot new venue is following suit. The Sphere's LED screens from both inside and outside of the venue use energy-efficient lighting. Also, the venue's HVAC system is designed to avoid reheating, while the data centers use energy-efficient hot-aisle containment and in-row cooling.
Sphere Entertainment has proposed a 25-year deal with NV Energy to power the venue with solar energy. If approved, the deal would give Sphere the most dedicated solar power of any business in the state of Nevada. The Sphere has also vowed to purchase certified renewable energy credits to offset any non-renewable energy it uses. Once the program is approved and running, the Sphere estimates that 70% of its power will come from solar and battery resources.
U2 Vegas Residency at the Venetian
<>To kickstart its new state-of-the-art venue, The Venetian is hosting a 36-show U2 Vegas residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere, which began on the venue's inauguration date, September 29, 2023, and will continue until February 18, 2024.
Crafted as a reimagined version of Achtung Baby, the Irish band’s seventh studio album, it was crafted specifically to fit the incredible Sphere sound and visuals. Fans can expect to hear all of the songs from Achtung Baby, as well as some of U2's other greatest hits like “Beautiful Day,” “With or Without You,” and “Elevation.”
Darren Aronofsky’s Postcards from Earth
Darren Aronofsky, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker behind Black Swan and The Whale, was commissioned to make a project for the Sphere’s specs — something that could only be played as intended in the venue. The result was Postcards from Earth, a 50-minute nature film shot in 18K, marketed as an ode to the wonders of our planet and all its creatures.
Aronofsky and his team employed nine Red cameras fused together to achieve the necessary resolution for creating images for Sphere. Subsequently, they received the initial prototype of the custom 18K Big Sky camera, specifically designed for producing content for the venue. This custom-made camera played a key role in capturing most of Postcard from Earth and underwent further development during production. It took a total of 12 people to turn on this one-of-a-kind recording device.
Postcard from Earth serves as an immersive global tour, framed by a space-set narrative in a conventional movie aspect ratio. It commences with two characters arriving on Saturn, and as they reminisce about life on Earth, the visuals expand to utilize the entire display. It is an audiovisual experience that’s impossible to recreate anywhere else on the planet.
You can catch Aronofsky’s groundbreaking film or purchase U2 Las Vegas residency tickets through Event Tickets Center!
