The Las Vegas Sphere: A Truly Immersive Experience

For those not at the forefront of the music or Las Vegas scene, you might be alarmed to see a massive spherical structure displaying art and advertising plopped down, center strip, connected to the Venetian Hotel. 

And those familiar with “Sphere,” including myself, have anticipated its opening, watched its construction process, and wondered in awe what the concert experience would be like. When longtime rockers The Eagles announced an extended residency, I popped into the pre-sale queue on Ticketmaster and winced at the price as I hit “BUY."

A late celebration of my spouse’s birthday brought us to Vegas to see show number 30 on The Eagles’ appropriately named “The Long Goodbye” tour. Since securing tickets, they announced another residency extension in September and yet another in October and November. 

Sphere is a music-forward concert venue, offering attendees an auditory and visual experience like no other. The $2.3 billion project, completed in 2023, promised to be the most expensive experience venue in the U.S., blowing its estimated construction budget of $1.6 billion out of the water. 

To put that dollar amount into context, adjusting for inflation, the Bellagio—rooms, fountains, venues and all—cost $3.06 billion to complete (the project completed in 1998 and came in at $1.6 billion at that time).

Of course, a venue of this magnitude does not offer cheap seats to get into the door. Two tickets at 300-level, including Ticketmaster fees, taxes, and whatever else they sneak into the bottom line, were $650. Mind you, this is pre-sale through Ticketmaster. Pay attention to those presales if securing tickets; you don’t want to know what third-party outfits are asking!

Spere is located center-strip, making it an easy walk from most hotels along the strip, which I would absolutely recommend over the jam-packed parking and Uber situation. You really do not get a feel for its size until you are right under it. And while many have critiqued the less than impressive, pixelated visuals when viewed from close up, keep in mind that from your hotel or airplane windows far and away, the image is crisp and clear. 

Walking in, we joked at how similar it was to “Spaceship Earth” in Epcot at Disney World. The galactic, futuristic tone had me looking around for robots taking drink and food orders, showing guests to their seats. While these do not exist (yet), the venue does have robots on full working display at other times. 

It’s hard to describe the “simple” trip up the escalator. The lighting and vastness gave a planetary vibe, and it felt as though we were being lifted into outer space. Just don’t look down, it will give even the least scared of heights goosebumps. The same goes for the actual venue. It is stadium seating on steroids, giving folks the urge to hold on tight to the guardrails. 

Outside of the structural marvel it is, the specs and tech are nothing to be shunned. From the inside, Sphere-goers can fill in ground level up to 400-level seats, none being nosebleed status. Sure, from my 300-level seats, the band looked like ants rocking out on the stage, but the visual effects sprinkled in live-video of the band, seen by each corner of Sphere. 

What makes the visual effects even cooler is that they are not simply projected onto the wall. The LED lights curtain the inside of the venue, offering 16k-resolution visual effects, live video and even lighting throughout the show. 16k!

And while the visuals are nothing shy of stunning, it’s truly the sound of this concert-forward venue that had me amazed. Sphere totes 167,000 speakers, that's six figures worth of individually amplified loudspeaker drivers, fully integrated and installed behind the LED screen. This means every single seat in the house offers the exact same killer audio experience. Whether you are in the front row or 400-level corner, you will be treated to a perfectly mixed, dynamic audio experience. I still cannot get over is how absolutely pitch-perfect every lick and note came through over the speakers.

In fact, the sound system, with an official name of "Sphere Immersive Sound," is widely regarded to be the world's most advanced concert-grade audio system.

Every detail of the venue—even the sound-treated, library-quiet hallways leading into the space—was thought out and planned to deliver the best sounding concert experience possible. And BOY, does it. 

The Eagles are one of the most iconic bands, offering countless timeless tunes since their inception in the early '70s. What made this show even more special was that the band tours with some original, founding members.

Founding member Don Henley was behind the drums, on the guitar, and singing along to a perfect harmony, his voice just as solid as ever, even breaking out into "Boys of Summer" during the show. Joe Walsh, who joined the band in 1971, replacing its founding guitarist, hit every lick on the guitar, joking that it was much more fun to party in his 20s in the 70s than it was to party in the 20s in his 70s. It was a total treat to hear “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way” from the legend himself. Vocalist and bassist Timothy B. Schmit, with the band since 1977, also hit every note and harmony.

Musical legend Vince Gill also joins the Eagles for this run of their tour, filling the gap left by Glenn Frey, who passed away in 2016 due to health complications. Also lending a hand to fill that gap is Frey’s son Deacon Frey, and the specialness of this unspoken tribute to his father was not lost on the audience. Chris Holt, who stepped in in 2001, replaces longtime guitarist Steuart Smith, after his departure due to health issues related to Parkinsonism. 

In short, every song played over the band's two-hour set had the crowd singing along, stopping only to gasp and be in awe at the visual effects. Most folks were glued to their seats for the entirety of the show. We didn’t have to leave our aisle seats once to let anyone in or out of our row, which never happens at a concert. 

And if this is indeed the final goodbye for The Eagles, there was absolutely no better way to do it! I'm still flipping through the video clips on my phone, reminiscing on one of the best concert experiences of my life (I've loaded this one and this one to our YouTube channel for your viewing pleasure).

If you are a music fan, I can’t recommend enough attending a show at Spere. The Eagles, Dead & Company, Kenny Chesney, and The Backstreet Boys (yea, I don’t know why, either…) all have show dates on the books, with regular showings of special films for Sphere like “Postcard from Earth” and “V-U2: An Immersive Concert Film.”