Musings on the Sphere
As someone who loves seeing live music, especially in new venues, I was pumped to see Phish play at the Sphere in April of 2024. My husband is a huge Phish phan, me less so but I love the jam band scene. So when the band announced a 4 night run the weekend of our anniversary, we made it part of our trip adding on time in Sedona afterwards. Two nights in Vegas (one night at the Sphere) followed by three nights in the desert…perfect! We had friends from Virginia and North Carolina join us and were stoked for the adventure. Phish is just the 2nd band to ever play the Sphere (U2 did a 40 show residency here) and this felt like an artistic expression that I wanted to witness live, not just listen to the stream or see videos.
The Sphere is a huge venue, costing over $2B to build with a seating capacity of over 18,000. Inside this massive space, there's 160,000sq ft of 16K resolution wraparound LED screen — the largest and highest resolution LED screen in the world. These numbers didn't mean a lot to me as I’m not into tech like that. Leading up to the trip I was thinking, "Is this just a glorified IMax?" and “I’ve been to plenty of shows and festivals with great light rigs, is this really going to be allllll that more special?” This particular show, at this particular venue was billed as “a fully immersive experience”" and that is certainly what we got!
We could see the Sphere from our hotel room at the MGM and it dominated the skyline. It sorta looked fake, but this is Vegas so how real could anything be? This is a city with an over the top vibe and “look at me” craziness. From our hotel room, we watched the outside of the Sphere change from a lava lamp to a smiley face to the moon to everything in between. If the outside was this intense what would the inside be like? On the night of the show, our party of 10 made their way over the Sphere. I was well nourished, hydrated and wearing a fun outfit after a chill day by the pool. I was so ready to get the party started!
Below are my high level notes:
Ubers still seemed a bit confused as to the best way to get to the Sphere. We pretty much did a rolling jump out of the car. I’m sure there was a better / easier way, we just didn’t take it.
The lines weren’t too bad to get in (around 30 mins) and we milled about looking at merch, food, etc. Four of us made our way to the seats in section 109 and got cozy meeting our neighbors (Go figure, they live near my sister in MA and have a niece playing college lacrosse. So we had lots to chat about before the show and during set break)
Going out to the food / bathroom area was like a sound vortex and we couldn’t hear the music that was playing just a few dozen yards behind us. This meant that we couldn’t hear a song we liked to run back to our seats. It was neat to walk around but why not hear the music from a place other than the seat? This part was a bummer although I’m sure intentional.
The visuals….just wow! Each song had a different set of visuals taking up the massive screen. Some more trippy, others incredibly detailed and others feeling like a Windows 95 screen saver. Phish phans are used to a crazy light setup and this was, in true Vegas fashion, over the top. Each of the four nights was different but night 1 was pretty neat! Some visuals evoked a feeling of calm and floating and others felt more anxious and hyper. This is the intent of course, the full immersion. The Sphere makes you experience music with your eyes as much as with your ears. I felt like I needed a neck pillow at times just to lay back and see what was behind me as much as what was in front of me. I barely even looked at the band on the stage.
The sound is awesome. The ability to throw the sound of the drums from side to side and hear the bass guitar kick up at certain parts was great. Not too loud but really crisp and clear. As a concert venue of course this is a big deal.
At one point it felt like the whole venue was moving forward towards a shoreline via boat and then receding back, looking up at mountains and trees. This was really neat although alarming at first and I had to sit down. I stayed seated for a bit and then stood, not even dancing just feeling like I was moving with everyone else in the audience.
The seats were nice, way better than stadium seats, with a generous cushion. There was enough leg room between knees and the back of the chair in the row in front of you so you weren’t putting your butt in someone’s face when you walked by. Although upon getting up, the seats slapped back a bit. Cupholders were placed just right and flipped up / down to give more space. Clearly some effort went into these details.
Ushers were pretty strict on folks smoking joints, blunts, vapes, etc. This is funny because cannabis is legal in Vegas and people smoke cigs inside the casinos. Or maybe it was just the usher for section 109 as I heard other folks had no issues enjoying a lighted product.
I can’t speak to the concessions because I didn’t purchase any food or drink while there. But for those in our crew that did, beer was $17. Makes me so happy I don’t drink!
For $2B, I would have liked better water refill stations. They soaked the floor prompting staff to lay down flat boxes to soak up water. Then again, the water in Vegas is awful…overly chlorinated and tastes like a sewer. Perhaps that is to get you to buy overpriced bottled water. I refilled my bottle several times with the crappy water and it just left my mouth dry.
I was grateful for the inclusion of “sensory rooms” as a safe space to take refuge in. Should someone be overwhelmed by lights and sounds, they could chill here for a bit. I didn't use the space but in a venue such as this, someone is going to need a break!
I want to be clear: I had a blast at this show AND I was overwhelmed AF. It was super fun AND I’m not trying to do it again. I am holding multiple truths here.
Straight up: I was overwhelmed by the Sphere, despite going to dozens of shows and festivals every year. I’m not a rookie here, I knew what I was getting into. After the show I felt depleted, I felt worn out. This is not normally the case, as I’m often energized and uplifted. So I got really curious about how I interact with live music and how I want to feel in a massive group setting. I realized that I typically spend a lot of time with my eyes closed at a show. With my primary sense removed, I feel like I can hear better. I often have a hand on my belly or chest (when I’m not dancing around and clapping). I want to feel connected to the other humans in the space as well as the band. When people are on their cell phones, which happens at every venue, not just the Sphere, it can leave those around them feeling disconnected. Everyone was on their phone taking videos of the visuals. I want to feel the music and energy of the crowd, this goes deeper than hearing / seeing. This is a somatic and full body connection, one I would prefer to get without the plethora of fancy LED screens.
At the Sphere I couldn’t close my eyes because the visuals were poised to be as important if not more than the sound. Upon returning to Baltimore, most friends asked, “How were the visuals?” not “How was the show?” The visuals at the Sphere seem like the biggest and most important part. That’s not to say the sound wasn’t great, because it totally was and in a venue that’s so “immersive”, the visual and audio quality are well matched.
So here come the questions (your Gemini buddy here always has some questions):
Why do people go to see live music? Couldn’t they just listen on the radio or Spotify. Or, if you’re a phish phan, do couch tour? Can a live music experience be healing as well as entertaining?
To notice my own energetic shift from audio to visual in a closed arena was fascinating to witness. I prefer to see live music outside, and even then I want to be on the lawn and not under the pavilion. I want (need!) my feet on the earth (yes, I’m the hippie that takes her shoes off immediately) and have room to move freely. I need to feel grounded because when I’m in a big space with a lot of people I feel the energy just bouncing around, which can give me nervous system fatigue. I love live music, it is a true joy of my life. I love the collective experience of being in a large group of humans so I have learned how to nourish myself in these situations which means bare feet on grass and eyes closed. I didn’t get either of these at the Sphere, hence my nervous system dysregulation.
Do we as music lovers need venues like the Sphere? Does a building like this work only in a place like Las Vegas or could it exist elsewhere? What does over stimulation look / feel like and how can we come back from it?
For those folks that go to 2-4 concerts a year, the Sphere might be their big event., they want to go all in and just have their minds blown. But as someone who sees a lot of live music in venues of all sizes, I don’t want every show to feel like this. I don’t need the shock to my nervous system but more than once a year. Over stimulation at this magnitude needs a way to be processed.
And for me, the processing was nature. I was so happy the morning after the show to hit the road to Sedona. I NEEDED the grounded energy of the desert for leg 2 of the trip. If we would have returned to Baltimore it would have been tough to integrate. But in Sedona, hiking mile after mile, being outside most of the day and watching the sunset was the best possible antidote to the Vegas energy.
So why does a yoga teacher / health coach / sound healer write about live music?
Because music is a mirror…for our emotions, our attachments and aversions. Music is about mindfulness and connection. Listening to music alone vs experiencing it with a large group of humans. Music, with the energy and the movement that encompass it, is primal. It speaks to the deep core of what it means to be a human and how we feel with others around us. This is connected to yoga in that we get to observe our mind. We become the watcher. The healing power of sound, with trippy visuals, eyes closed or drumming with our feet on the earth, it deserves our exploration. In this way, the Sphere and this one Phish show are bigger mirrors for what it feels like to be a human and how music is a connector to self, community and Source.
Would I see another show at the Sphere? Maybe, but I’m not hustling to get back there any time soon. The last time I was in Vegas was 17 years ago, and I’ll be just fine if it’s another 17 years before I return. I find the energy frantic, tinged with desperation and illusion. Too much forced cold air and banks of elevators rather than being invited to take the stairs. Not enough actual grass or sky with way too many flashing lights feels like an assault on my nervous system. Sure we could see the Sphere look like the moon, but couldn’t see any actual stars. Vegas is a late night town, and I’m an early morning gal…so from the start this is a mismatch of energy.
Sedona is open sky, red rocks, warm air. We saw the full moon rising as the sun was setting. I don’t want to see rocks, skies or the full moon on a LED screen / projected from a giant surreal object. I want the real images seen through my own eyes. Even if they don’t have all the pixels and the highest resolution. That’s why Sedona was a balm after Vegas, because of what nature provided me to see and hear, not an AV engineer. The connection that nature, much like live music provides me is a blessing, it’s a gift. Music and nature nourish my nervous system and show me how I can best care for myself. What a cool juxtaposition and awesome opportunity to practice mindfulness.