The Sphere at The Venetian Resort has, since July 4, been beaming images onto its 580,000-square-foot surface. And now it has finally opened to the public on September 29! The Sphere made its debut with rock band U2 taking the stage as its first concert. The band is booked for 25 shows inside the high-tech, traffic-stopping amphitheater clad in 1.2 million LED screens, pictured courtesy of Sphere Entertainment.

Between U2 concerts, the filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (“The Whale”) will take his turn at the Sphere in Las Vegas with the October 6 premiere of “Postcard from Earth.” The movie was filmed on seven continents with high-resolution “Big Sky” cameras designed specifically for Sphere. Tickets range from $49 to $199. Check out a short video of the inside of the venue, courtesy of Aronofsky, here!

“The Sphere will define Vegas architecture,” said Brian Alvarez, who goes by Paco, a former city cultural commissioner and tour guide, previously in the New York Times. “It’s on par with the Sydney Opera House or the Eiffel Tower for becoming a unique city icon.”

Here’s what you can expect to experience inside the spherical venue:

• According to Sphere, five “life-like” robots will reside in the venue’s grand atrium to help answer guest questions. Developers said that the robots, which are named Aura, can answer “complex questions” about the “ground-breaking engineering, layers of custom-designed technology and the creative mission at the core of venue, as well as queries for directions within the venue and details on each day’s performances.”
• Those planning to make any purchases once inside the venue should know that the Sphere is a cashless venue, so they will only accept credit cards or mobile payments. This does include Google Pay and Apple Pay. However, if you need to add cash to an account, reverse ATMs are located throughout the venue, which converts money into a debit card.
• In the 17,600-seat auditorium, audiences will be surrounded by a 160,000-square-foot LED media plane and 167,000 speakers. Immersion techniques include vibrating seats as well as scent, temperature, and wind technology.

Holoplot is the company that was tasked with designing the audio system at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Roman Sick, the CEO of Holoplot, gave AVIXA a behind-the-scenes perspective on the audio technology used in this game-changing new venue. The Sphere utilizes 3D beamforming technology, wave field synthesis, and more to help shape its sound. 

“I think that this will change the industry,” said Sick, CEO of Holoplot. “Every time something of that scale is done for the first time, there's a lot of skepticism. [But] I think that the expectation in the general public, or in the consumer, is also rising, so if we go out to have live entertainment experiences, they really need to level up and I think Sphere is a prime example for where that's going to go in the next couple of years.”

Next time you’re in Las Vegas, make sure to keep an eye out for this one-of-a-kind, bubble-shaped amphitheater and snag yourself some tickets to one of their shows!