--- title: "Enormous $2 Billion LED Orb in Las Vegas Looks Absolutely Deranged" description: "Sphere Entertainment has started testing its $2 billion dollar, orb-shaped, and LED-laden music venue in Las Vegas." date: "2023-07-07" modified: "2023-07-07" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/2-billion-orb-las-vegas" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "entertainment" - "leds" - "music" - "the digest" --- # Enormous $2 Billion LED Orb in Las Vegas Looks Absolutely Deranged ![Sphere Entertainment has started testing its $2 billion dollar, orb-shaped, and LED-laden music venue in Las Vegas.]() *\Image: Sphere Entertainment\* ## Sensory Overload Sphere Entertainment, the Madison Square Garden-funded venture seeking to "reinvent" live music, has started testing its first — and impressively large — LED-laden, orb-shaped music venue in Las Vegas, which is already being billed as the "[world's largest video screen]()." First impressions: it looks absolutely bonkers, as evidenced by [videos]() of the orb in action. According to [*Engadget*](), the 17,600-seat stadium, which cost over $2 billion to build, is a good 516 feet wide and 366 feet tall. Its LED-powered displays, combined with its 164,000-speaker audio system and added sensory elements — think what you'd get at a 4D movie — are designed to create a completely immersive experience. In other words, it sounds like an IMAX theater on steroids; a physical manifestation of sensory overload. "We thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to have VR experiences without those damn goggles?'" MSG Ventures CEO David Dibble recently [told *Rolling Stone*](). "That's what the Sphere is." https://twitter.com/Mich_MSGSphere/status/1675172939833184259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1675172939833184259%7Ctwgr%5Eb3242c09cf7c17b238db668235019dd64e0a0e99%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.engadget.com%2Fthe-venetian-resort-starts-testing-its-giant-led-video-sphere-153112387.html ## Eyeball of Sauron Naturally, netizens on social media had a field day with the new orb. "This is definitely going to attract more UFOs," one Twitter user [wrote](). Others were terrified of the garish, glowing sphere. "I don't know if it's cause I've watched too many fiction movies but I don't fucking trust that thing at all," another user [wrote](). "Looks like a Death Star, Eye of Sauron, HAL 9000 hybrid. I'm out." ## Stare Into the Orb Appropriately, Irish rock legends U2 are slated to christen the orb in September. "This will be a quantum leap forward in the sense of what a concert can be," U2 guitarist David Howell "the Edge" Evans told *Rolling Stone*. "It gives you the opportunity to bring people back in time, and to worlds that are completely computer-generated, but completely believable. It's a new genre of immersive experience, and a new art form." Whether the sphere will really prove to be the future of music — or if Sphere Entertainment will ever even break even — remains unclear. As *Engadget* notes, the structure's build cost has, [by some reports](), ballooned beyond original estimates. And elsewhere, it's not a given that a lot of acts will want to perform in an experimental venue of this kind. In short, the sphere's success remains to be seen. If anything, we're counting on some solid holiday lights. **More on entertainment:** [*Elon and Zuck "Absolutely Dead Serious" About Cage Fighting, UFC Boss Confirms*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()