Remember going to concerts "back in the day"? Remember the joys of straining to see the performers, fighting to get near the stage, wading in spilled beer, and drums so loud (or guitar amps) that you could barely hear the singer? Not that it was all bad; sometimes, you could get right up to the stage so close the performers would sweat on you. For a lucky few, that was actually a great experience.
But welcome to the future… The Sphere has arrived in Las Vegas, and it will blow your mind.
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First some general specs.
366 ft tall and 516 ft wide, seats 18,600 people, 167,000 individually amped speakers, 1.2 million LEDs, 16 kW w/ 256,000,000 pixels, 4D effects like blasts of air up to 140 mph, fog, and rumbling seats.
We went to see The Eagles at The Sphere in January. Given what I had heard about the height of the venue, at first, I was a bit doubtful of our seats. We sat in the center of section 406 row 10. The stage seemed a mile away with tiny figures on it. Some people were right down in front of the stage (basically at the bottom of a 30-story building). But I soon realized it was all about the screen, which actually surrounds the audience from top to bottom and side to side and provides perfect closeups of all the performers mixed into really incredible video images. I soon realized that the people down in front and at lower levels were actually missing the show and craning their necks to truly experience it.
Now, I realize some may scoff at that. You go see a band to see the band. Weeeeell, The Sphere makes it more of a 4 dimensional, totally engulfing, perfectly sounding, and visually stunning experience. So, let's talk about what kind of sound you get out of 167,000 powered speakers. I've never heard such perfect (and perfectly mixed) PA system. It was truly a hifi experience. The crystalline highs, perfect midrange, and just incredible bass made it very satisfying for an audiophile and every seat was a sweet spot.
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As far as The Eagle's performance, we got to see Don Felder's Final show, as he quit for health reasons after the performance. Don Henley was superb, perfect drumming, and his voice seemed the same as 30 to 40 years ago. Joe Walsh's guitar playing was excellent, but I don't think he should sing, as he has a rather odd voice. I did enjoy him playing a few of his solo tunes, especially "Rocky Mountain Way," so all the power to him. Vince Gill was a great addition and gave a fantastic performance. Not being a country music fan, as you know, I wasn't familiar with him, but he truly was superb.
Back to the Sphere. The concert was very expensive. We went to a movie there the previous day, Aronofsky's "Postcard from Earth". Although it was around $100 for a 45-minute movie, it was so worth it, just amazing. The Sphere is a fantastic venue. At a cost of nearly $2.3 billion it should be. It was so good; I'd even go to a country music concert there.