I nearly wrecked my car when I first saw it last year driving down the Las Vegas Strip. What was that giant glowing orb that looked like it might have been dropped by aliens?
Turns out it was built by entrepreneurs and cutting-edge engineers who designed “Sphere” as a unique entertainment venue, one that catches attention even in the flashy world of Las Vegas.
Outside, the exterior — called the Exosphere — of this enormous globe is visible to anyone driving down the Strip and even from airplanes overhead, making it an instant Vegas landmark.
This immense orb is covered with LED lights. Sphere executives say it’s the largest LED screen on earth, covering 580,000 square feet with 1.2 million LED pucks and capable of displaying a billion colors, and also the world’s largest spherical building.
Inside the venue, one has the feeling of being in an immense planetarium, with 360-degree screens and graphics. It opened with its first show in September 2023.
I went inside for the first time in May to attend the “Dead Forever” show by Dead & Company, which contains former members of the Grateful Dead, and also guest artists such as singer-songwriter John Mayer. The Dead had always been known for its cutting edge technology and marvelous graphics, so I was interested to see what they’d do with an unusual venue like this.
I had trouble getting tickets, because mobs of other Dead fans were also fighting for them, but I finally scored three for my birthday in May.
I paid a cringe worthy $1,100 for the three tickets, which was the most I’d ever paid for any concert in my long, long life. Afterward, I deeply regretted spending so much money on just one show, but I invited a pair of friends to come with me as my treat and celebrate my 68th birthday.
I was still griping about how much I’d spent as we arrived at Sphere, which is located adjacent to the Venetian hotel and resort. I’m gimpy and I use a cane, so I was happy to see a smiling wheelchair attendant waiting at the Uber drop-off lane, to help anyone who needed it.
My friends and I had to stop for a few minutes to take pictures of ourselves in front of the remarkable glowing orb, which was showing famous Grateful Dead graphics.
Then, I was wheeled quickly inside and into the bowels of the building, where there was a service elevator to take wheelchair patrons up to their seat level.
I saw a man wearing an apron with Grateful Dead graphics on it, and I told him that I liked it. We chatted for a minute, he found out it was my birthday and then insisted on buying us drinks. He accompanied us on the elevator up to our level, which was conveniently right next to an attractive cocktail lounge. I can’t ever find fault with seats located so close to a bar.
I ordered a special Mai Tai drink they were calling a “Tai Dye” and it was delicious. It was nice that someone else was buying, because the drinks were expensive — like they always are at concert venues.
Our host, Martin Valenzuela, told us he was the executive chef at Sphere, and he certainly made converts out of us with his kindly gesture.
Then, we walked into the actual concert hall, and found ourselves momentarily stupified by its size and configuration. The 17,385-capacity seating area seemed dwarfed by the enormous dome around us. We couldn’t help taking pictures, even before the show began.
I stopped complaining about how much I’d paid for the tickets. According to the company’s website, the entire Statue of Liberty would fit inside.
We were early, so we sat down and enjoyed watching the arena fill up. The seating process seemed orderly and easy. There was a wheelchair section near me, but I didn’t need it.
The show began on time, which is always big with me. I’m old —don’t waste the time I have left.
We could see the band down below, but they were dwarfed by the enormous graphic projections that began appearing all around us. I don’t know if people were intoxicated around us — Dead shows have always been known for their fans’ use of psychedelics — but you really didn’t need any drugs to appreciate the experience.
The graphics — it’s tempting to call them “visions” — became a view of the earth that focused down and down and down until it became a close-up of a certain white Victorian building in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury. This elicited a cheer from the crowd, as people recognized the house where the Grateful Dead lived when they were first starting out.
Then, the camera pulled out, showing us the San Francisco Bay, and kept pulling out and out until we were looking at the Milky Way. During the four-hour-long show, the glowing dome surrounded us with animation designed to accompany specific songs, sometimes eliciting a gasp from the entire crowd.
At times, our seats rumbled and even shook along with the music. Apparently, engineers can also change the air, to add a breeze for example, and even add scents. I’m happy to say that the air was less smoky than it often is at indoor Dead concerts, which I appreciated. I assume the venue has some sort of amazing ventilation system.
It was so wondrous and overwhelming, that I turned to my friends and said, “We should come back and see it again!” no longer caring how much the tickets had cost.
Was it the very best Dead show I’d seen in 45 years? Musically, probably not, although it was darn good. John Mayer performed the late Jerry Garcia’s role in the band, and other younger musicians also sat in.
But was it the most mind-blowing concert experience I’d ever had, with or without mind-altering substances? Yes. For sure. We all walked out talking about the show, and the euphoria lasted for hours.
When there’s no concert scheduled, the venue offers “The Sphere Experience,” which is a multimedia show running most days. Tickets start at $94, according to the website.
For fight fans, the Riyadh Season NOCHE UFC is scheduled for Sept. 14.
The next concert scheduled for Sphere is The Eagles, in residency from September through January and I really don’t know if the graphics would match what I’d just seen. After all, they’re known for country rock, not psychedelics.
At this writing, ticket prices allegedly start at $325, but I could only find seats for $1,100 each and up, which is above my budget unless I win the lottery.
But I would certainly go back to see another show at Sphere, and apparently the owners — Sphere Entertainment Co. — are considering whether to replicate it in other cities.
I’ll be interested to see what happens.
The Sphere
Where: 255 Sands Ave. Las Vegas
Information: thesphere.com
Learn more about the science behind the building: thesphere.com/science
