Pete
Photo by Cory Doctorow via Wikimedia Commons
U2 just performed the first concert at the Las Vegas Sphere at the Venetian Resort, a giant dome-shaped event venue wrapped in LED screens. The band’s run will last until December 16, with tickets ranging from $400 to $1,500. Many shows are already sold out.
The Sphere is a collaboration between Madison Square Garden Entertainment and the Venetian Resort, and it’s the largest spherical structure in the world: it has a seating capacity of 17,500 and a standing room capacity of 20,000.
The massive structure is covered with 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED screens which show different animations and advertisements during the shows. The interior has an immersive 160,000 square foot LED screen, which has a picture clarity of 16k x 16k resolution, making it the largest and highest-resolution LED screen in the world.
The Sphere also boasts a cutting-edge sound system, called Sphere Immersive Sound™, which is the world’s largest beamforming audio system. This system can create different sound environments within the venue, such as surround sound, directional sound, or even silence. The Sphere also has 10,000 haptic seats, which can vibrate and move in sync with the sound and visuals.
The Sphere will also feature “five identical robots you can interact with.” Tickets are also now on sale for “The Sphere Experience” (starting October 6), which will begin with a greeting from their robot named Aura. “Aura will show you how culture and technology and science and art have always been intertwined throughout human history. And some of the latest technology you get to experience personally – including a 360-degree avatar capture, a beam-forming sound display and a 50-foot-high holographic image.”
The main feature of “The Sphere Experience” will be a new film called Postcard From Earth by Darren Aronofsky.
