U2 Live at Sphere Las Vegas!
October 28, 2023 5:12pm
Sphere is the latest and greatest entertainment venue in Las Vegas. Uh, make that "Sphere is the latest and greatest entertainment venue on Earth." The $2.3 billion structure is a massive, spherical building located behind the The Strip's Venetian Hotel & Casino. It stands 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide.
The exterior surface is covered with LEDs, making its 580,000 square feet of fully programmable video the largest video screen on the planet. Its physical size, while huge, does not dominate the Las Vegas skyline. But its bright, ever-changing, colorful display attracts attention like no other building in the world can.
On September 29th, U2 opened Sphere at The Venetian Resort with the first performance of their 21 week “U2 UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere” residency. I wasn't at Sphere for opening night. But I did attend last night's U2 concert there. It was indescribably incredible.
Along with my friends Rob Ade and Dave Whittaker, I saw U2 perform live at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, Ireland on August 8, 1987. It was the band's final European show of their Joshua Tree Tour. That concert was typical for arena concerts of the era. It was festival seating on the grass pitch of the stadium. Being young then, we were happy as pigs in mud partying in the dense crowd just a few feet from the stage.
Last night's concert was far more agreeable for a man of my age. The luxurious assigned seats were not only comfortable, they offered unobstructed views of the performers and the astonishing videos that enhanced the visual experience.
Sphere's seats have built-in haptic technology that vibrates the seats with the beat and intensity of the music. Although they were not used for the U2 concert, the "Postcard from Earth" film does use them, so the audience can "feel" the music. By design, the music can be literally felt in the seat of your pants at Sphere. I plan to see that this Tuesday.
Sphere's spatial audio system consists of 1900 speakers strategically placed throughout the venue to create the ultimate acoustic experience. Three hundred of those speakers move as necessary to maximize the sound quality throughout the arena. Sphere's 167,000 computer-controlled loudspeaker drivers carefully control precisely where the sound goes. The result is that the front row audience doesn't have to get overblown and distorted sound just so the audience in the back can hear the music like what concerts used to do... well, until a month ago when Sphere opened.
Sphere is visually stunning both inside and out. The curved interior walls are illuminated with LEDs that form a fully immersive concert experience. While viewing the band from my seat in Section 208, the entirety of my left, right, and upper peripheral vision was filled with the ever-changing dazzling scenery created by those LEDs. Remember the first time you saw an IMAX film? Think that times a thousand. But because the spherical screen has no corners or edges, visual cues that it's only a video just don't exist.
Furthermore, the massive high-resolution LED screen that wraps around the entirety of the interior, except where the seats themselves are located, is 16K. That means it uses 256 million pixels (16000 x 16000) in its 1.2 million light modules, with each module divided into 48 LED diodes capable of displaying 256 million different colors. It is the highest resolution LED screen on Earth. The interior display measures 160,000 square feet. The resolution of state-of-the-art 4K home television screens is so vivid that it is difficult to discern video from real life. Well, Sphere's video screen is sixteen times better than that!
Sphere creates an experience that transcends reality. At one point during the concert, the LED screen displayed an in-motion image of the Las Vegas Strip behind the band. It was so realistic that, if you didn't know it was LED, you'd think it was an outdoor concert. At another time during the concert, the ceiling collapsed onto the audience; except that it didn't. But the effect was convincing. With Sphere's stunning 360° imagery filling the full peripheral vision, it was easy to feel as if the arena was flying. Before U2 came on stage, news helicopters appeared overhead. As their searchlights swept the interior, vibrations from the rotors shook the arena. But of course, the helicopters and their intense sounds were all digital effects.
The stage itself also had built-in LEDs that not only changed colors but featured live video of the concert embedded in the stage floor. Attendees in the general admission area right in front of the stage probably couldn't see that. But for those of us in the elevated seats, the stage itself was alive.
Not every song was accompanied by intense video graphics. But even the songs without the high tech pizzazz were elevated by Sphere beyond the normal concert experience. The concert was great. Of course it was great. It was U2. How could it be anything else? But the venue... oh, the venue! Sphere has changed what a concert is. A concert can now be a full body experience.