Second Las Vegas Sphere residency wraps up

Rock group Phish have become the second act to complete a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

The US jam band delivered a four-show stint at the 17,500-seat/20,000-cap venue from 18-21 April to follow in the footsteps of U2, who launched the $2.3 billion next-generation venue – the brainchild of Madison Square Garden boss James Dolan – last September.

The group did not repeat any songs over the four-night run, while each performance’s visuals were different and even improvised in the moment.

“All of our visuals can be executed, modified, and manipulated in real time,” co-creative director Abigail Rosen Holmes tells CNN. “They… follow the band’s musical performance, rather than being locked in, allowing Phish to play as freely as they would at any other show.”

The Sphere features a 160,000 sq. foot LED display inside the main venue, which wraps up, over and around the audience for a fully immersive experience in cutting-edge 16K x 16K resolution.

“The emotions of the music, mixed cohesively with the visuals on the screen, create an emphatic moment only truly felt by those in the venue”

Daniel Jean of Montreal-based multimedia studio Moment House, which co-produced the visuals for the concerts, says the technology “has opened the door to creativity in ways we haven’t been able to explore before”.

“The emotions of the music, mixed cohesively with the visuals on the screen, create an emphatic moment only truly felt by those in the venue,” he adds, speaking to CNN.

U2’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere run, which was staged in partnership with Live Nation and Sphere Entertainment, saw the Irish group play to fans from over 100 countries from 29 September 2023 to 2 March 2024. The show grossing $244.5 million from 663,000 tickets sold across 40 sold-out dates to become the fourth-highest-grossing concert residency of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore.

Dead & Company will follow with 24 concerts from 16 May to 13 July, with a different setlist performed each weekend. General admission tickets are priced between $145 and $395.

No other artists have yet been announced for the venue, but the Eagles are heavily rumoured to be lining up a residency for the autumn.

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