The MSG Sphere in Vegas won’t open to the public for almost three more months, but the buzz has already started.
Billed as the world’s largest spherical structure at 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, its bowl-shaped theater reportedly contains the world’s highest-resolution wraparound LED screen. To top that off, the exterior is fitted with 1.2 million hockey puck-sized LEDs that can be programmed to flash dynamic imagery on a massive scale – which we saw for the first time when it was illuminated on July 4th.
Naturally, the screen is out of this world.
“The screen goes from ground (level) to 250 feet high, all the way around…” says Claffey, the Sphere operations officer. “It keeps you fully immersed when you’re sitting in that bowl. I used to love IMAX in New York City, but this will blow that away.”
And Sphere’s producers promise next-level audio as well with more than 160,000 speakers spread around the bowl so even people sitting in the top row will get the same sound.
The venue also is equipped with so-called haptic seats that can vibrate to match whatever is happening onscreen – an earthquake, for example – and 4D machines that can create wind, temperature and even scent effects.
In a premiere worthy of Vegas, it’s scheduled to open September 29 with “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere,” a series of 25 concerts built around the Irish band’s landmark 1991 album “Achtung Baby” and running through mid-December. (Ticket prices start at $140.)
See it in action.