Unveiling the heart of the internet’s current favorite spectacle, the Vegas Sphere’s inner sanctum may rewrite the rulebook of entertainment in Sin City.
Odds are you’ve caught wind of the viral $2.3 billion Sphere, the exterior of which illuminated for the first time on July 4th, 2023. At a towering 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, it’s both the world’s biggest spherical structure and largest LED screen, according to a press release issued by its proprietors, Sphere Entertainment.
The complex’s exterior consists of approximately 1.2 million hockey puck-shaped LEDs, each of which contains 48 individual diodes capable of emitting 256 million different colors.
Now, iconic Black Swan filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has posted the first video of the Sphere’s interior, which contains the world’s highest-resolution wraparound LED screen. His new film, a “part sci-fi story, part nature documentary” called Postcard From Earth, is premiering on October 6th.
“my iphone can’t come close to capturing the definition on the screen,” he wrote. “at times you forget where you are and you’re transported to the other side of our home.”
“I see Sphere as a great opportunity to pluck people from the bling and thrum of the Vegas strip in all its human constructed madness and immerse them as fully as possible in the wonder, awe, and beauty of the natural world,” Aronofsky said earlier this year.
With a capacity of roughly 18,000 people, the Sphere will host concerts, film viewings and sporting events. It’s easy to drool at the thought of a rave beneath its gargantuan 16K LED screen, which has the capability to envelop crowds with immersive visual projections.
Rezz’s mouth is already watering. “Ya I need to play a show in there immediately,” the Canadian electronic music superstar said earlier this summer.
There are over 160,000 speakers spread around the Sphere’s interior audience bowl, according to the venue’s producers, who said the venue will also feature haptic seats that vibrate in tandem with the giant screen’s visuals.
Sphere Entertainment Co.
It seems the Sphere’s sound will meet the moment as well. A demonstration of its cutting-edge audio system, Sphere Immersive Sound, took place on Friday, July 21st from inside the venue, according to Pollstar.
“Sound is key and we paid a great deal of attention to it,” said James Dolan, Executive Chairman and CEO, MSG Entertainment. “What we have created here is as close as you can get in a full venue of replicating the human sense of sound. And we’re programming to it, and everything [you’ll hear] now is because of the technology we’re using, everything that you hear is intentional. Not causal. Meaning that once you hear it, you’ll know it yourselves.”
The Sphere is scheduled to officially open on September 29th with the first concert of a series featuring legendary rock band U2. You can find out more and purchase tickets to “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere” here.
