The Sphere

U2 was fantastic, and they really took advantage of the format but Postcards from Earth was awful. They didn’t correct a lot of the video so you’d have things like pillars and objects like trees that were curved. And the cheap tickets are at least $100.

The other problem was that the story, [Spoiler Alert] has an environmentalist theme but it was being told on the world’s largest LED screen in a giant air conditioned death star in the middle of the desert. I found this kind of ironic.

I went to see the Dead there and it was fantastic. The sound was excellent and they used the beam-forming to have the vocals sound like they were coming from the stage below, while the instruments seemed non-directional. The haptic chairs were killer fun for Drums and Space. The Dead usually do about 10 minutes of improvisational percussion (Drums) and about 10 minutes of sonic exploration (Space). Watching Mickey Hart play the Sphere (seats, visuals reacting to his sounds, and of course the sound itself) was the coolest part.

The visuals were so engaging that I had to look away to avoid motion sickness once or twice. My brain got used to it quickly. Totally worth the trip and fantastic. One complaint was the lack of bathrooms.

If you want a real surreal experience, I suggest visiting Carlsbad Caverns, or a similar enormous cave system. I suspect the awe the author felt was the same sensation as being in an enclosure larger than any building. Think about being in an aircraft hanger then multiple the size by ten. There simply aren't any human-built structures as large. The sky becomes rock and it's just different than any place you've ever been.

I was there last week for the Dead and it was really quite good. Didn’t feel “huge”, the sound was good (didn’t need a huge sound system on stage) and the graphics ( which usually I find a distraction) were quite good.

I find Vegas pretty boring but this was worth the trip.

Been there yesterday, can confirm what the author wrote about immersion. Cathedral and opera scenes are something I have never experienced before, fully blown away. The storyline is garbage.

It's a shame that some folks passed their judgement on The Sphere before the project was done. The people who I know who've been were hugely impressed and said it was an engineering marvel. Others were quick to quote a video essay by a 17yo about how it's an idol to our dystopian indulgence.

If it were in Cambridge I could understand the objections to the aesthetics. But this is Vegas! The style guide is basically just "go ham".

It genuinely took me 5 seconds to realise the first image was a photo from inside the Sphere, as opposed to the article being about spherical spaces in caves.

I am curious how they handle motion sickness, aka "vection" which we are so familiar with now because of VR.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4403286/

The basic rule is... don't accelerate the camera, positionally or rotationally, basically ever. You can present constant velocity or rotation, but even then it's risky.

It takes a lot of discipline to not move the camera inappropriately in an environment like The Sphere. Hollywood people don't like to be told that the camera shouldn't pan, track, etc. But really, it shouldn't... unless you want a whole bunch of very uncomfortable, sad, sick people in the audience.

The Sphere is primarily for concerts. I refer to the movie currently running as their matinee show. Sure, it brings in some revenue but it isn't why they built the thing.

I think the choice of the movie was poor. People don't go to the Strip to see some dystopia thing. MSG needed to pick something actually entertaining.

At least they did not stick with the original name of "MSG Sphere" for the venue.

While the sphere is more modern, and features the very hyped exterior LED screen, the concept of a sphere with a cinema screen wrapped inside it is quite old.

30 years ago, la geode already existed in Paris : https://www.lageode.fr/

I got good memories of this as a kid, and if you are in the area, it's definitely a must-do in the city. Especially since it's attached to one of the most fun science museums you'll get to visit with a lot of interactive bits.

I do want to get into the sphere to experience what 3 decades of progress have given us.

"Postcard from earth" gave me strange scientology vibes towards the end. I walked out because everyone around me was talking and using their cameras to record the entire thing. I would not go back to that venue.

I didn't know the display on the inside was only 16K, that seems pretty low for the size of the thing.

Seems like the author got the best non-VIP seat he could too. I wonder how the worst seat (or non-seat, like an isle) in there fares for immersion.

Had a friend that went there, a couple of months ago. He had the cheap seats, even though he could have easily afforded the VIP.

He said it was amazing.

Like the early IMAX, though, I'll bet making media for this sucker will be eye-wateringly expen$ive.

I just want to know what they feed it. Can I send them an NxM mp4 as a pitch?

I know a lot of people who take acid in Vegas and I think a crazy fractal animation would look great on this device.

> my guess is that most viewers are 20m from the screen

The point being made in context here is valid, about depth perception and immersion, but picking nits, to me this guess doesn’t feel right at all in terms of describing the viewing experience. The main viewing area is center front, opposite from the “good” seats in the middle, and there’s nothing within 20m of it, or even 50m I’d speculate. The good seats are probably 80m away, and most of the rest are further. No matter where you sit, the undistorted view is across from you, you tend to look away from the very closest part of the screen. So people on the sides might be close to their side of the screen, but are primarily looking at the stuff across from them and in the center front. The parts that are within 20m are designed to be periphery no matter where you are. Except for the floor, where I might have been within 20m, but I was looking at the band 20m away, and only looking at the screen for stuff much further.

Dead & Co. at the Sphere was an unforgettable life experience. So much creativity in what they did with the visuals to honor the history of the band, its San Francisco roots, and the canvas the Sphere gave them. I'm going back in August!

What he's describing seems quite similar to the term "presence" in VR.

Everything I had heard about this so far suggested to me that this was a full half-sphere wraparound display, interesting to see that it's not!

It's a great experience. The movie Postcards from Earth is very immersive and I enjoyed that. The storyline is a pretty standard degrowther story so not innovative but it depicts it beautifully. It's definitely a striking theatre and a very enjoyable venue. It has a sort of futuristic Tomorrowland feel, which I enjoyed.

I'm surprised people aren't bringing up the "original" Sphere. Vegas had an Omnimax dome 45 years ago! I have fond memories of it as a kid. The entire theater was comprised of speakers on which spherical movies were projected. It's a shame it never got more traction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAX#Dome_and_Omnimax

I actually saw numerous issues with segments being one frame out of sync with the rest.

It has been renamed from "The Sphere" to the even more pretentious "sphere(tm)".

Sooo much whining about the heat outside. God forbid he should have to walk outside knowing its a desert.

Its the dry heat, so its really not that bad. The only thing that makes it bad is perception when rapidly changing from artificially cooled air conditioning. With this in mind I also found it perplexing he kept mentioning climate change, probably because he couldn't take the heat. If you get used to the climate you have substantially less need of environmental control factors like air conditioning, your appetite decreases to compensate for the heat, and instead your thirst for water (not sugary garbage) greatly increases. Those factors result in physiological changes that alters a person's perception to their natural environment, but whatever.

I have lived in Kuwait for several years and its tied with Death Valley, California as the hottest place where people live at around 129.3F. (The actual hottest place on the surface of this planet is the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia.) Yes, I promise, you can get used to 110F degree weather and be just fine for hours so long as you continually hydrate and protect your eyes and skin from excess sun exposure.

> Las Vegas’ combination of climate disaster and themed/immersive indoor environments feels distressingly prophetic.

The author calls the story of the film garbage, I think the article is garbage.

Such a pretentious collection of nonsense statements and non-questions.