Look: Why is everyone talking about The Sphere? $2.3 billion mega project opens with U2 concert, jaw-dropping visuals

[Editor's Note: This article was originally published on October 2, 2023 when the Las Vegas Sphere first opened. This is being brought back as Abu Dhabi is set to be the world's second place to get The Sphere.]

It started as a crude sketch — a circle with a stick person inside. Seven years later, that drawing has been made real: A $2.3 billion massive spherical venue, standing 366 feet (111 meters) high and lighting up the Las Vegas skyline.

The drawing was initially made by James Dolan, the executive chair of Madison Square Garden and owner of the New York Knicks and Rangers. He and MSG Ventures CEO David Dibble were trying to create a plan to give the entertainment venue industry a facelift in Las Vegas.

Both experimented with different shapes for the structure — such as a muffin, a box and even a pyramid — until Dolan drew the circle and stick person on a notebook. At that moment, the Sphere was born.

Now, Dolan’s vision has come to fruition as U2’s “UV Achtung Baby” residency kicked off the opening of his high-tech, globe-shaped venue Friday night.

“It really is a new medium,” said Dolan, speaking to the media during a walkthrough Thursday. "When you’re in the Sphere, you don’t get told what to look at. The audience decides what they want to focus on.”

Inside the 516-foot-wide (157-meter-wide) Sphere, a high-resolution LED screen wraps halfway around the 17,500-seat audience. The venue is equipped with thousands of speakers that will deliver a “crystal-clear,” multi-layered experience.

The venue features an array of technology attractions, including five interactive humanoid robots named Aura.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Dibble, who framed Dolan’s original drawing after carrying the picture in his backpack. “Everything from our audio and networking system, visual displays, camera systems stored — it’s all required to deliver an effective Sphere experience.”

The state-of-the-art venue has become a traffic stopper — especially at night. It drew immediate attention on the Fourth of July with a digital fireworks display, an eyeball that appeared to scan the horizon with the words “Hello World.”

Along with U2’s 25-show residency, the venue will next week offer a custom production titled “Postcard from Earth” by film director Darren Aronofsky.

Tourists and air travellers have also seen the orb light up with the likeness of the Earth or Moon, bouncing basketballs and art designs. The characters from the upcoming animated film “Trolls Band Together” have appeared on its LED exterior and it trumpeted the release of NSYNC's new single “Better Place,” a song on the movie's soundtrack.

“That’s cool,” said Glenn NP Nowak, an architecture professor at the nearby University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “It’s like words don’t do it justice.”

The Sphere resembles the Spaceship Earth attraction at Walt Disney World’s Epcot theme park in Florida. Its design also draws comparisons to the Montreal Biosphere museum in Canada and Avicii Arena in Sweden.

It doesn’t tower over the Strip like the 520-foot (158-meter) High Roller observation wheel that casino giant Caesars Entertainment opened in 2014, or the 1,149-foot (350-meter) tower at the Strat Hotel & Casino that opened in 1996.

However, the Sphere is the most expensive entertainment venue built in Las Vegas, eclipsing the approximately $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium sports facility that opened in 2020.

“There is hype around this,” added Nowak, who toured the structure with his students at various phases while it was being built. “I think that’s part of the reason people don’t necessarily understand what they’ve just seen.”

• Love pop music? Largest US newspaper chain is hiring Taylor Swift and Beyoncé writers