The Fishsphere Vegas showcases the unreal possibilities of the venue.

Most major live entertainment venues were not built with music as the first priority. Arenas and stadiums where you can catch the biggest acts are suited for sports and not for sound. In this regard, and in many other ways, Sphere—The “The” is so much more. no The preferred name for Sphere is – a separate world. Madison Square Garden boss James Dolan spent $2.3 billion to build this high-tech temple to acoustic and visual frenzy in Las Vegas, and after five years of construction it finally opened last September, housing U2. Gah was repeatedly expanded to a total of 40. The nights

Before you get anywhere near it, the Sphere commands attention. The venue’s instantly popular “exosphere” uses 580,000 square feet of LEDs to display high-definition video art and advertising day and night. You’ll first glimpse it from afar, looming like a mysterious alien orb between the hotels on the strip, or glimmering through glass facades. “Wow – circle,” you find yourself admitting, to no one in particular. the sphere Claims You can also see the sphere from space, though This may or may not be true.

The scope is all high, and it’s hard to write about this place without getting lost in hyperbolic white noise. But it really is a kind of live music Valhalla, and there really isn’t a large-scale concert experience anywhere on the planet to rival it. Make fun of it all you want: Sooner or later an artist you really dig will announce a Sphere residency, and you’ll inevitably find yourself struggling to decide if you’re up for this awesome thing. How much money can you justify spending in one night?

The other band to headline the Sphere was Phish, another institution that wasn’t quite as heavy on the subject. Over the course of their 40-year career, the Vermont quartet has staked out their self-styled subculture by doing their own thing, focusing most of their energy on the live concert experience as opposed to album sales, a fanatical fan base. The foundation has been promoted. Through tireless touring and an uncompromising commitment to improvement. Mainstream culture may have long ago filed Phish under “jam band,” but its original organization is truly one. The theater Rock bands, purveyors of psychedelia, vary in eclectic influences from Prague to bluegrass to barbershop, not to mention the occasional use of vacuum cleaners as wind instruments.

Fish only booked four nights at the Sphere, far less than the market wanted. Face value tickets for the Thursday-Sunday run sold out in nanoseconds, as did Ticketmaster’s extortionate “platinum” tickets, for prices that would have most responsible adults asking themselves questions like, “Cracker on cracker, is it really worth that much? A ticket?” (or as a slightly less responsible parent might have thought, “But when you think about it, is college still worth the investment?” ?”).