Anyma At Sphere: The Future Is Here

As soon as Sphere opened in Las Vegas, chatter around who the first electronic dance act to headline the venue began. Anyma’s signature visuals featuring robots that would break through the screen and come towards the audience brought him world renown, and they were amplified in the Sphere.

Upon entry, fans are already brought into the future. The venue itself feels like its designed with retrofuturism in mind, and a holographic screen featuring Anyma’s signature robot appears from floor to ceiling, flickering through as they take the elevator up towards their seats.

“Anyma: The End Of Genesys” fully utilizes the venue’s prowess straight off the bat, the show beginning with his robot breaking through the glass (similar to the visual presented on Exosphere along with the show announcement) and leaning over into the crowd. From there, fans are thrown over a cliff and drop into the Earth’s atmosphere.

For the next two hours, fans are entirely immersed in Anyma’s melodic techno and the love story portrayed throughout “Genesys,” which follows the humanization of his robotic visual. Aliens crawl across the screens, fans focusing on something taking place in one corner and not realizing until a jump scare that another creature has crept up from the other side.

Each night, Anyma would bring out a guest, their faces displayed across the entire Sphere screen as they turned into demigods while they sang on stage. Ellie Goulding came out on Dec. 29 to perform their upcoming collaboration, “Hypnotized,” which is out on Jan. 10, while Sevdaliza performed their song “Fortuna” on Dec. 30. FKA Twigs also performed at the venue on Dec. 28.

Anyma’s own equipment featured two translucent TEILE controllers with a futuristic look (designed by Rampa and Anyma during a trip to Ibiza last summer), with a cello sitting on a raised platform on both sides of him played by robotic arms. However, hardly any of the focus was on Anyma himself, fans instead immersing themselves in Sphere’s displays.

He and his team were tasteful with the movements. While it would be easy to go full-throttle, throwing fans whichever way (and it was best to watch the show while sitting down in order to feel a bit more grounded), they kept things steady. But, when the visuals reached out towards the crowd, it felt as though they were right in front – one small reach, and the audience would be grasping them with their hands.

“Going back to the whole idea of finding unique locations and venues and just making sure we’re giving something new to the fans,” CAA’s Ferry Rais-Shaghaghi, who books Anyma, told Pollstar when the shows were first announced in June. “When I heard about Sphere, it just instantly clicked that this was the place we needed to do Afterlife. So, the conversation started in March 2023 and just trying to understand the venue, get in touch with the right people there, being able to get appointments set up to see the quarter-scale Sphere and Burbank Studios and doing a tour there. From there, putting together a presentation and plan of what we have in mind and why it makes sense. At the end of the day, taking a techno show into a traditional venue is not something that happens often, let alone in a venue that just opened and is one of its kind. It’s been a year-long process, but everyone’s super excited about this.”