A New Odyssey Begins: If You Want To Experience Illenium’s New Project Live, You’ll Have To Go To Sphere

As Nicholas Daniel Miller, better known to fans as ILLENIUM, calls in to our interview he’s rushing home from a flight. To say he’s got a lot going on right now would be an understatement: It’s almost the New Year and the multi-platinum selling, Grammy-nominated artist is wrapping up a final round of dates ahead of his upcoming sixth studio album. That album will precedes a ground-breaking approach to touring never before seen. The musician, DJ, producer and songwriter’s residency at the Las Vegas Sphere kicks off on March 5, with a run of nine shows that lasts until April 4. Described as a “neo-space opera,” Sphere will be the only place ILLENIUM fans can experience ODYSSEY as a live show. He and his team have set up these shows exceedingly well: the album, which arrived Feb. 6 via Republic Records, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Album Chart.

Born in San Francisco and now residing in Denver, ILLENIUM is managed by longtime friend and one-time roommate, Sean Flynn at Cinder Management, who helps guide his career, and ILLENIUM clearly likes blazing new trails.

“It’s fun to take something that means so much to me personally and grow it to a world-building scale,” Miller says explaining why Sphere is the perfect palette for his creative expressions. “I’m a big gamer, I’m a big movie nerd, I like building worlds and lore, and I wanted to take a body of music and make it dramatically bigger. I make music because it gives me peace. It gives me escape. It gives me a purpose. This show and this story present a mythological fantasy on how to love yourself, how to go through battles and find the best and worst parts of yourself.

Miller, 35, has learned to balance his own nature while establishing a template for a next generation of electronic dance music superstars. In 2019, he appeared on the cover of Pollstar as he began his ascent into arenas. Before that milestone, he revealed to a more personal one. He told fans that he had struggled with addiction at a young age, overdosing on heroin, which led to him getting clean from that moment onwards.

“I’ve always put my personal story out there,” Miller says. “I’ve always put out the best vibe I can, and to be welcoming in nature. No matter who you are or what you’ve gone through in life, if you want a good immersive experience and a time to escape, to see cool art and cool sounds – this is a peaceful moment for everyone in the place. My fans understand that, and I think more people are catching on.” 

While 2019 saw ILLENIUM play arenas, his trajectory didn’t stop there. He became the first artist to headline a concert at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on July 3, 2021, the show spanning three sets that covered his albums Ashes, Awake and Ascend. He’s booked by UTA’s Guy Oldaker, Steve Gordon and David Gordoni. Across his career, which dates back to 2014, ILLENIUM has submitted 173 headline reports to Pollstar’s Boxoffice, which boasts a total of 929,059 tickets sold, with a total gross of $59.4 million. 

The step into Sphere felt a natural progression for the team, which has been looking at the venue since it was first announced. 

“We toured the construction of Sphere over four years ago with the intention of being one of the first acts to play it,” Flynn explains. “It’s been on our minds since then, but it didn’t become a reality until the beginning of this year. Since we decided it was time to move forward, it’s been all hands on deck.” 

On site in 2022, the team donned hard hats and explored the venue’s vision. “We went all the way up in the scaffolding as it was being built,” Oldaker says. 

“I could barely walk around the scaffolding way up in the air,” Gordon notes. “We were so high up there. It was kind of funny, wearing hard hats and suits, going on elevators built out of wood. It was cool, but scary.” 

That was the moment the team began to chew on a vision. ILLENIUM was still working through his “Trilogy” series, which featured single-night stadium events highlighting three albums, with dates at Empower Field at Mile high in Denver in 2023 (54,161 tickets sold, with a total gross of $3.6 million) and at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in 2024 (71,096 tickets sold, grossing $6.3 million over the course of two shows on Feb. 2 and 3). But, after performing at stadiums, the team knew to push their vision further, and Sphere presented the opportunity to do so. Following the SoFi “Trilogy” shows – which were the third and final installment of the series – the team threw themselves into plotting out ODYSSEY.

“Once we did 75,000 tickets in Los Angeles alone, we knew the fanbase was there,” Gordon says. “Then, when you factor in his other markets – he’s done 50,000 tickets in San Francisco, what we’ve done in Denver, it all makes sense. Guy has worked with ILLENIUM and built him from the ground up. We’ve done all the steps rather than try to force it. When I joined the team, we continued the strategy of doing things step by step. We’ve done the steps now. You can’t deny it.”

In May 2025, ILLENIUM signed a deal with Republic Records, with ODYSSEY arriving as his first album under the new partnership. With the wrap-up of “Trilogy” and a new record label, the team felt it was the most opportune time to showcase their next direction. Creating a concept album felt like the perfect way for them to begin their next chapter.

“We took a year off of hard ticket touring,” Oldaker shares. “It wasn’t planned, but we starved the market. We haven’t rinsed all our markets. You want to see Nick do the show? You’ll have to fly in or drive to Sphere. We’re not playing Washington D.C. at the Merriweather. We’re not doing the Texas Rangers Stadium, we’re not playing MSG. We’re not doing any of the marquee plays that you normally go and do on tour. This is the only place you can see it, and this is how it’s happening.” 

The album and the show at Sphere were created simultaneously, with ILLENIUM and his team working overtime. They enlisted Berlin-based animation studio Woodblock to assist with the creative and technical production. The company has experience inside the venue, having also worked alongside Anyma for “The End of Genesys” in 2025. ILLENIUM’s ODYSSEY album also features collaborations with musicians Mako, Ellie Goulding, Bring Me The Horizon, Kid Cudi, Alok, Zeds Dead and more. 

“What resonated for me in this process is that elements for Sphere and the new album were created in tandem over the last year-plus,” Cinder Management’s Ryan Murphy shared with Pollstar via email. “It’s an incredible and almost impossible amount of work for an artist to take on at the same time. But since the two areas informed each other in real-time throughout the creative process, I believe it shaped a cohesiveness and emotionally charged journey that would’ve been difficult to capture as deeply had they been made separately.” 

Working through this project has been the biggest undertaking the ILLENIUM team has ever handled. 

“It’s been really fulfilling,” Flynn says. “It’s so cool to go into the world’s most technologically advanced venue and learn about the process of it all. The creative behind it is unlike anything we’ve done before. It’s been really exciting, and definitely a lot of work. It’s been fulfilling to learn what goes on behind the scenes making a show of this stature. It’s going to be really cool once it’s all said and done to see the fruits of our labor. I’m proud of our team and everything they’ve been able to accomplish.” 

Fans interested in seeing ILLENIUM’s latest project live will only have the opportunity to do so at Sphere, as each aspect of the album’s creation was made specifically with the venue in mind.

“We had around a 20 page outline,” Miller says. “We had a lot of detail, and Woodblock’s visual quality is insanely good. They had everything we were looking for.”

In addition to the visual journey, Miller has spent the bulk of his days playing around with different sound designs. With Sphere’s capabilities, he’s aiming to push boundaries of what’s been done.

“You can go absolutely insane in there,” he says. “We’re trying to do that. It’s extremely challenging to program so much into these shows. Every single one of my songs, I’m playing stems or parts and they have every single part going to a different area. That’s how you create this spatial thing, you have to be wary of any space cancellations. It’s been fun. It’s been a battle, but it’s going to be sick. Creatively, we’re going into the sound design and the visuals, plus the music. We’re playing with what the focus is.” 

Flynn adds, “It’s the biggest concept project of our lives. There’s over 100 audio-visual team members that have contributed to the creation of this show.”

The show will include a string quartet, with the layers of sound proving an interesting challenge for Miller.

“It’s easier to freestyle and have more fun with live remixing,” he says. “I haven’t had the capability to do that live.” 

The greatest challenge throughout the process was creating an album and a live show specialized for Sphere simultaneously. It created limitations throughout the album’s writing process, with Miller having to nail down core aspects of each song earlier than he was used to. 

“I have to keep the song structures the same and keep the tempo arrangement the same,” Miller explains. “I don’t have to finish these songs yet, but that’s what the structure is going to be. It was tricky, not having the album done but having to make a listenable version for my Sphere team.” 

Witnessing the project come to life has been inspiring for Flynn and the rest of ILLENIUM’s team.

“Nick’s a very driven person,” Flynn shares. “Once he gets his mind set on something, he’s going to make it happen. I feel that’s infectious. Everyone that works on the team feels that drive to make something really cool, and everyone works together to do the best they can. Nick, at the core, has a goal-focused personality that inspires everyone to work as hard as they can and get the best product we can get.” 

Miller emphasizes, however, that the entire process has been a massive team undertaking.

“I have a really solid core team, he says. “We had creative calls a year ago, and we’re putting everything in. Even a new album. We’re fully into this and making it as perfect as we possibly can. We’ve put more time and effort into this show, and I genuinely think it’s going to be one of the best things we’re going to deliver. It’s unique, fun, exciting, memorable, potentially emotional. I want people to feel as though they’ve gotten something out of this. I feel connected to the community.”