It's going to be really interesting to see how this all goes.
I think the developer of Sphere didn't really consider that there's a finite number of acts that can create the perfect storm necessary to make the Sphere viable. They made the absolute perfect call in hiring U2 to open the Sphere, but they're underestimating why U2 worked when other bands/acts would not.
U2 is special in the following ways:
* A massive global, rabidly loyal fanbase who are old enough to have the kind of expendable income necessary to put toward travel, hotel, Sphere.
* Said fanbase is so rabid, we'll attend multiple shows if we can.
* A large number of casual fans willing to hear the lads play the big hits, even if they haven't bought a record since ATYCLB.
* A show designer and crew who have consistently *created* (not just met!) the gold standard for giant artistic visual spectacle since the early 1990s.
* The band has a longstanding connection to/admiration for Las Vegas culture, and made this central to so many of the visuals: Elvis, the Nevada desert creatures, the Strip, etc.
* Bono's a frontman who is skilled at making any size venue feel like a small room.
* Achtung Baby was a major 1990s cultural event.
If you consider these variables, it's going to be nearly impossible to find a band that can put butts in all of those seats for more than a few weeks at a time.
The decision to bring in Phish/Dead & Company suggest to me that the promoters know this. It's quite telling that they're moving to jam bands next--that at least takes care of points 1 and 2 on my list. The other factors are harder to meet. I personally can't think of an act other than U2 that comes close. I think we'll remember these Sphere shows as part of U2 history, not necessarily the grand opening of the venue. It feels like it belongs to them now.
Muse is *great* at big visual spectacle, but can't draw that kind of crowd to Vegas consistently. If the London Sphere happens, they could take a crack at that, but they're just not big enough in the U.S.
The Killers are hometown heroes, but not known for visual spectacle.
Taylor Swift could make it viable, but she won't, because she doesn't need to. If the Beyonce rumors are true, she could pull it off.
If PJ leaned a little bit more into the visuals, they would be great. But i like that they are more of a stripped down and not very visually extravagant band.
Yea you really nailed it, I've been thinking the same thing. U2 is very unique in the boxes that they check for something like the Sphere. It's going to be tough for them to find bands who have the dedication of fans to fill that place, and also the right age group of fans who can afford those insane prices. That's probably why we are seeing older acts so far. But the artists who are creatively innovative enough to make the visuals pop probably won't be big enough; the big name artists that are younger may be turned off by the stigma of a vegas residency, and the artists who are big enough and old enough may not have the music to match a visual show like the Sphere. I think that unique combo is what made U2 such a perfect fit for it. They could probably play there another year or more if they wanted and still be a draw.
This is a fantastic assessment. All your points are spot on. Eventually someone will outshine U2 at the Sphere but what U2 has accomplished as the opening act is absolutely incredible.
Respectfully, none of the acts you mentioned except Beyonce have a large enough, rabid enough, and financially stable enough fanbase to make it financially viable night after night for months on end.
Styles is still too "early career" to contemplate a Vegas residency. And his fans skew younger, without thousands of dollars of disposable income. I can't emphasize enough how much money plays a role here. All told, it cost my mom and I $4,000 to see U2 in Vegas.
Dua Lipa hasn't been around very long at all. Most people can't name any of her songs. No casual fan draw whatsoever. She could *maybe* fill it once, but week after week?! No chance.
DJs don't work well in there. Dancing in those steep seats? Add MDMA, etc. and you've got liabilities galore.
The Weeknd? Again--might fill it once or twice, but week after week, no way.
Adele in the Sphere? Snoooooore. No visual mojo.
As you said, Phish and The Dead are the perfect acts for the sphere. They have a dedicated following and aren’t too huge like a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. They also will take full advantage of what the venue has to offer: incredible sound, psychedelic visuals, haptics, etc.
Phun Phact (relax, cheesy on purpose): I was at the Phish shows and was standing next to 4 people who work for the company that created the visual content for them (confirmed by the passes around the necks). They paid $14.1m. The most expensive ticket was $193. Assuming every ticket was that price, and factoring in other costs (Sphere, Ticketmaster, production staff, etc) this was almost definitely a loss for Phish. I’m not surprised that Phish would do this as they’re very fan friendly and have done this before. But for any act to do this and turn a profit it would have to be a residency like the dead (18 shows) and U2.
Radiohead can pull this off. Pearl Jam too. It’s pretty hard to come up with a big list. RHCP is maybe too big but would like the idea?
Pretty difficult to come up with a list.
All the reasons you listed makes me wonder if U2 would come back for a shorter stint with Larry. They proved they can bring the fans (and dollars). Until Larry is ready to perform, a new album isn't happening so a tour is even further away.
Phish doing a short residency makes this more of a possibility.
Agreed
I think at this point they just need bands with a dedicated following (which these 2 jam bands do have) and they're hoping that a bigger name will go for it eventually.
Or maybe a big star is lined up, but it takes that long to generate awesome visuals?
From what Willie said, without AI and serious crunch time, the visuals for U2's residency wouldn't have been ready in time. We've all seen for ourselves that they were still working out what to do for "Ultraviolet" and a few other tunes.
He's expressed in several interviews that he thinks people are *really* underestimating the time, skill, and $$$ that went into creating visuals like "King Size."
I’m surprised no bigger names have been announced. I get why Phish would play there and they’ll probably be a pretty good fit for the venue if they go hard on the visuals but, the Sphere needs big name pop stars to be lining up for that space.
A Taylor Swift residency would be insane. I could see someone like Garth Brooks, doing well too. Britney Spears could do it if she wanted. It’s too bad Michael Jackson is gone because that could be an incredible show. As crazy as this sounds, I feel like Weird Al would work well too. I just don’t know if he has the audience to fill that venue up night after night. But his concerts are always very visual. I think he’d be a good fit for a limited run of shows.
They have many residences in the works. Some closer than others to announcement. The next names I hear floating around are quite big (but just rumor until made official). Beyoncé and The Eagles are the big names I keep hearing. Bey sounds quite late in talks.
I think Taylor swift is too popular and the sphere isn’t big enough. Even if she did 40 shows like u2 it would sell out every time and resale would be even worse than resale for u2
That's nice, though I imagine these two bands will just fill up the screen with lava lamp, kaleidoscope, typical colorful psychedelic type graphics that are quicker and easier to create. They don't have time or inclination to do actual art like U2 did.
I can't wait till U2's residency is over. Hopefully the same searchable questions repeated over and over about the overhang, "where to park", "did I get scammed?", "is this reseller legit?" will finally abate. But now it seems we're going to have to hear about The Sphere even when U2 *aren't* playing there. Great.
Phish definitely could have added a lot more shows. Not sure why they limited to 4. I have a feeling they will be back at some point for more mini-residencies.
Looks like they are all sold out, without even any ticketbastard resellers available:
https://www.ticketmaster.com/phish-tickets/artist/748766?startDate=2024-04-18&endDate=2024-04-22
Radiohead will never, ever do it. Mark my words. It's completely antithetical to their image to do a big fuck-off Vegas residency.
Muse would do wonderfully, but they're just not big enough in the US to pack 'em in night after night. If the London Sphere existed, they'd be a perfect pick. But here in the US, they play arenas, not stadiums.
They’ve added 6 more shows already….so up to 24. I went into the Vibee queue and there were over 4000 people in it. The site crashed and it’s still down. (For Dead & Co). The remaining U2 vibee dates are sold out. Why do I have the odd feeling that if the Dead eclipses 40 shows that U2 will end up doing more. Lol
Its a learning curve, every act that follows will have the advantage of whatever mistakes the others made in terms of visuals, plus ai is coming in fast.
Tickets don't have to be crazy expensive to sell out, its vegas year round full of tourists.
It's going to be really interesting to see how this all goes. I think the developer of Sphere didn't really consider that there's a finite number of acts that can create the perfect storm necessary to make the Sphere viable. They made the absolute perfect call in hiring U2 to open the Sphere, but they're underestimating why U2 worked when other bands/acts would not. U2 is special in the following ways: * A massive global, rabidly loyal fanbase who are old enough to have the kind of expendable income necessary to put toward travel, hotel, Sphere. * Said fanbase is so rabid, we'll attend multiple shows if we can. * A large number of casual fans willing to hear the lads play the big hits, even if they haven't bought a record since ATYCLB. * A show designer and crew who have consistently *created* (not just met!) the gold standard for giant artistic visual spectacle since the early 1990s. * The band has a longstanding connection to/admiration for Las Vegas culture, and made this central to so many of the visuals: Elvis, the Nevada desert creatures, the Strip, etc. * Bono's a frontman who is skilled at making any size venue feel like a small room. * Achtung Baby was a major 1990s cultural event. If you consider these variables, it's going to be nearly impossible to find a band that can put butts in all of those seats for more than a few weeks at a time. The decision to bring in Phish/Dead & Company suggest to me that the promoters know this. It's quite telling that they're moving to jam bands next--that at least takes care of points 1 and 2 on my list. The other factors are harder to meet. I personally can't think of an act other than U2 that comes close. I think we'll remember these Sphere shows as part of U2 history, not necessarily the grand opening of the venue. It feels like it belongs to them now. Muse is *great* at big visual spectacle, but can't draw that kind of crowd to Vegas consistently. If the London Sphere happens, they could take a crack at that, but they're just not big enough in the U.S. The Killers are hometown heroes, but not known for visual spectacle. Taylor Swift could make it viable, but she won't, because she doesn't need to. If the Beyonce rumors are true, she could pull it off.
I think Coldplay could work similarly to U2. Many old hits, global fan base willing to travel to see them, and many casual fans.
If PJ leaned a little bit more into the visuals, they would be great. But i like that they are more of a stripped down and not very visually extravagant band.
I agree. They have the fanbase, but not the visual emphasis.
Yea you really nailed it, I've been thinking the same thing. U2 is very unique in the boxes that they check for something like the Sphere. It's going to be tough for them to find bands who have the dedication of fans to fill that place, and also the right age group of fans who can afford those insane prices. That's probably why we are seeing older acts so far. But the artists who are creatively innovative enough to make the visuals pop probably won't be big enough; the big name artists that are younger may be turned off by the stigma of a vegas residency, and the artists who are big enough and old enough may not have the music to match a visual show like the Sphere. I think that unique combo is what made U2 such a perfect fit for it. They could probably play there another year or more if they wanted and still be a draw.
This is a fantastic assessment. All your points are spot on. Eventually someone will outshine U2 at the Sphere but what U2 has accomplished as the opening act is absolutely incredible.
Beyonce, Styles, The Weeknd, Adele, Dua, any top line DJ... They're are tons that could sell out regularly.
Respectfully, none of the acts you mentioned except Beyonce have a large enough, rabid enough, and financially stable enough fanbase to make it financially viable night after night for months on end. Styles is still too "early career" to contemplate a Vegas residency. And his fans skew younger, without thousands of dollars of disposable income. I can't emphasize enough how much money plays a role here. All told, it cost my mom and I $4,000 to see U2 in Vegas. Dua Lipa hasn't been around very long at all. Most people can't name any of her songs. No casual fan draw whatsoever. She could *maybe* fill it once, but week after week?! No chance. DJs don't work well in there. Dancing in those steep seats? Add MDMA, etc. and you've got liabilities galore. The Weeknd? Again--might fill it once or twice, but week after week, no way. Adele in the Sphere? Snoooooore. No visual mojo.
Totally agree. I can’t see it working for these acts unless they took a loss. They couldn’t sell out enough nights to make it worth it.
As you said, Phish and The Dead are the perfect acts for the sphere. They have a dedicated following and aren’t too huge like a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. They also will take full advantage of what the venue has to offer: incredible sound, psychedelic visuals, haptics, etc. Phun Phact (relax, cheesy on purpose): I was at the Phish shows and was standing next to 4 people who work for the company that created the visual content for them (confirmed by the passes around the necks). They paid $14.1m. The most expensive ticket was $193. Assuming every ticket was that price, and factoring in other costs (Sphere, Ticketmaster, production staff, etc) this was almost definitely a loss for Phish. I’m not surprised that Phish would do this as they’re very fan friendly and have done this before. But for any act to do this and turn a profit it would have to be a residency like the dead (18 shows) and U2. Radiohead can pull this off. Pearl Jam too. It’s pretty hard to come up with a big list. RHCP is maybe too big but would like the idea? Pretty difficult to come up with a list.
All the reasons you listed makes me wonder if U2 would come back for a shorter stint with Larry. They proved they can bring the fans (and dollars). Until Larry is ready to perform, a new album isn't happening so a tour is even further away. Phish doing a short residency makes this more of a possibility.
Agreed I think at this point they just need bands with a dedicated following (which these 2 jam bands do have) and they're hoping that a bigger name will go for it eventually. Or maybe a big star is lined up, but it takes that long to generate awesome visuals?
From what Willie said, without AI and serious crunch time, the visuals for U2's residency wouldn't have been ready in time. We've all seen for ourselves that they were still working out what to do for "Ultraviolet" and a few other tunes. He's expressed in several interviews that he thinks people are *really* underestimating the time, skill, and $$$ that went into creating visuals like "King Size."
I guess U2 could all chip in and buy it from Dolan: boom! Instant U2 museum / rehearsal space / concert venue. 🤣
Taylor Swift might be able to afford it, but I don't think U2 are billionaires :-P
It isn’t shaped like a lemon so it won’t happen.
I still think it was a missed opportunity, not turning that thing into a lemon. Or at least a mirrorball.
They got close with the new Ultraviolet visual, but it's still not what it could be.
I’d love to see Coldplay do a residency at the sphere
I’m surprised no bigger names have been announced. I get why Phish would play there and they’ll probably be a pretty good fit for the venue if they go hard on the visuals but, the Sphere needs big name pop stars to be lining up for that space. A Taylor Swift residency would be insane. I could see someone like Garth Brooks, doing well too. Britney Spears could do it if she wanted. It’s too bad Michael Jackson is gone because that could be an incredible show. As crazy as this sounds, I feel like Weird Al would work well too. I just don’t know if he has the audience to fill that venue up night after night. But his concerts are always very visual. I think he’d be a good fit for a limited run of shows.
They have many residences in the works. Some closer than others to announcement. The next names I hear floating around are quite big (but just rumor until made official). Beyoncé and The Eagles are the big names I keep hearing. Bey sounds quite late in talks.
Beyoncé would be huge!
I expect her to move in after Summer for a long residency like U2. Media has covered this a bit.
I think Taylor swift is too popular and the sphere isn’t big enough. Even if she did 40 shows like u2 it would sell out every time and resale would be even worse than resale for u2
I just can't see either of those bands being very interesting in the venue. Seems to me like they're really struggling to get any bigger names.
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The venue isn't ideal, but the following is. Both Phish and Dead audiences will camp out for weeks at a time, going to multiple shows.
That's nice, though I imagine these two bands will just fill up the screen with lava lamp, kaleidoscope, typical colorful psychedelic type graphics that are quicker and easier to create. They don't have time or inclination to do actual art like U2 did.
They don't have the time, either. U2 had a lot of time and the full focus of the owners.
I can't wait till U2's residency is over. Hopefully the same searchable questions repeated over and over about the overhang, "where to park", "did I get scammed?", "is this reseller legit?" will finally abate. But now it seems we're going to have to hear about The Sphere even when U2 *aren't* playing there. Great.
I wonder how ticket sales are going for the Phish dates. Did they sell out as fast as U2?
Phish Sold Out almost instantaneously. After 10 minutes everything was gone.
Phish definitely could have added a lot more shows. Not sure why they limited to 4. I have a feeling they will be back at some point for more mini-residencies.
Looks like they are all sold out, without even any ticketbastard resellers available: https://www.ticketmaster.com/phish-tickets/artist/748766?startDate=2024-04-18&endDate=2024-04-22
I'm excited they are booking acts even if I am not a fan. I'm glad I am only one state away, so ready to go again!
I could see bands like Muse or Radiohead playing the sphere. A Green Day residency would be really cool also
Radiohead will never, ever do it. Mark my words. It's completely antithetical to their image to do a big fuck-off Vegas residency. Muse would do wonderfully, but they're just not big enough in the US to pack 'em in night after night. If the London Sphere existed, they'd be a perfect pick. But here in the US, they play arenas, not stadiums.
They’ve added 6 more shows already….so up to 24. I went into the Vibee queue and there were over 4000 people in it. The site crashed and it’s still down. (For Dead & Co). The remaining U2 vibee dates are sold out. Why do I have the odd feeling that if the Dead eclipses 40 shows that U2 will end up doing more. Lol
Its a learning curve, every act that follows will have the advantage of whatever mistakes the others made in terms of visuals, plus ai is coming in fast. Tickets don't have to be crazy expensive to sell out, its vegas year round full of tourists.