There were many impressive feats in the year 2023 and the grand opening of the Las Vegas Sphere, also known as The Venetian, is definitely one of them.
Located on the East side of the Las Vegas strip, in collaboration with The Venetian hotel, the Sphere was built during 2019 to 2023. It was built in the Madison Square Garden and has a seating capacity of 17,500, holding up to 20,000 total people with standing rooms. It is made up of 160,000 square feet of LED displays leaving it with a 16,000 x 16,000 resolution. It has cost 2.3 billion dollars to create because of the advanced technology and impressive holding capacity.
The venue has had a huge grand opening, featuring experiences with robots, holograms, and even the band U2. But, now that the spectacle of the building has worn off, questions about poor building techniques and the overall layout have arisen.
One major issue discovered was a design flaw where seats that were supposedly premium had obstructed views. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in their article MSG Sphere’s latest issue: Blocked views for U2 shows they bring up important topics such as the obstructed view that has been seen in multiple seats through the sphere. In the article they state “The issue is not with the direct sight-lines to the band on stage. But instead, a seating overhang on the first level partially blocks the view of the video screens,” (LVRJ). They also say “The Sphere is offering ticket holders in those sections refunds, or an opportunity to shift their purchase to seats in a different section on a different date,” (LVRJ).
This is a huge issue considering the amount of money and time that has gone into building the Sphere. To have seats that restrict the screen and thus the entire experience gives off the feeling that the planning and construction was rushed.
Which brings me to the next reason as to why the general use of the Sphere is questionable. In their article Disastrous Las Vegas Strip Venue Has Another Huge Problem, The Street brings up a very good point involving any concert performances in the Sphere. The article states “In theory, Sphere is a purpose-built venue designed for bands to perform in. The problem — and it’s only one of them — is that to perform at Sphere, a band needs to create a custom show and be able to fill a 17,000-seat venue often enough to justify the cost of creating a venue-specific show.” This shows just how limited the number of bands who can play here are. Smaller artists who don’t have the funds or have smaller fan bases will not be able to perform at this amazing venue.
Overall the idea of the Sphere is a cool concept. However, the execution of it was subpar. Spending billions of dollars on a piece of entertainment with so many flaws can be considered a bad decision. I truly hope that as time passes improvements are made in order to benefit the experiences of the viewers. I’d hate to see the Sphere fail when so much work has gone into it.
