Pollstar Live! 2024 Panel Preview: Sphere Redefining The Future Of Live Entertainment

February 8, 9:15-10 AM, LA Ballroom P2

Speakers:
Moderator: Andy Gensler, Pollstar & VenuesNow
David Dibble, CEO, MSG Ventures
Alex Luthwaite, SVP Show Systems Technology
Josephine Vaccarello, EVP Live

It seems improbable that Sphere has been open only four months. In that time, its impact on the live industry, popular culture and public consciousness at large has been immense (check out this year’s Grammy Awards and Super Bowl integrations) beyond its Las Vegas confines. It already appeared on the Pollstar 2023 Year-End Worldwide charts with U2’s “UV: Achtung Baby Live At The Sphere” residency bringing in nearly $110 million and selling more than 280,000 tickets, according to Pollstar Boxoffice reports.

While U2’s residency and Darren Aronofsy’s “Postcard From Earth” are both groundbreaking, they only scratch the surface (covered in millions of LEDs) of Sphere’s offerings, which are limitless in production and creative possibilities. This Pollstar Live! panel featuring Sphere’s senior executive team — David Dibble, CEO, MSG Ventures, Sphere Entertainment; Josephine Vaccarello, EVP, Live, MSG Entertainment; and Alex Luthwaite, SVP Show Systems Technology, Sphere Entertainment — will look at how Sphere came to be, what ways it’s been used since its opening, its live experience possibilities, how it is already influencing the live industry and fans and what can be expected going forward.

Constructing Sphere was Herculean, akin to a NASA-like mission (NASA, in fact, adopted some of its noise-dampening technology). It began in 2016 with MSG Entertainment CEO James Dolan and Dibble having a late-night brainstorming session in which the concept was scribbled on a piece of scrap paper.

Bringing it to fruition, however, was far more complex. “Frankly, necessity is the mother of invention,” Dibble told Pollstar in September. “In some cases, it was finding new uses for existing technology, but in the vast majority of cases, it just didn’t exist…We learned things literally every day.” (Check out the Big Sky Camera invented for Aronofsky’s “Postcard.”)

Vaccarello, who’s been in the industry for 25 years, told Pollstar in September that Sphere offers artists and their teams new possibilities. “It’s up to the act and their creativity,” she said. “Sphere allows for a canvas, a box of crayons. It’s up to the act how they want to use it. … When they see what it can do, eyes pop open with excitement.”

Luthwaite, who worked on the London Olympics ceremonies, was in part responsible for integrating the cutting-edge technologies into Sphere. Luthwaite told Pollstar he had his “finger in multiple pies,” adding, he was “like the glue in the middle of all the different teams …I had to make sure everybody was communicating with everyone else and helped see the processes through.”

At press time, news broke that had been surmised since before Sphere opened its doors. Something that may point the way forward towards Sphere’s future programming:  Dead & Co., heir to the Grateful Dead’s long strange trip, will be playing 18 shows over six weeks at Sphere kicking off in May.

The Dead were pioneers in immersive visuals before they were known as such. This included psychedelic oil projections at Kool-Aid Acid Tests, the Fillmore and other venues where artists like Joshua Lights Show created continually updated visuals. Having Dead & Co. play Sphere is the digital era version of this concept that offers infinite possibilities. And that’s what’s extraordinary about Sphere: It tests the limits of what’s possible.