Sphere wants to be Las Vegas’ busiest venue

The cat was already out of the bag by the time Bill Walshe, global head of operations and development at Sphere, delivered the breaking news for Las Vegas’ biggest new entertainment venue.

Earlier Thursday morning, representatives of the 17,000-seat venue announced it will go country with its next residency performance with country superstar Kenny Chesney starting a 12-show run beginning May 22.

But it was an opportunity for Walshe to share how the $2.3 billion facility is broadening its reach to become profitable.

“Obviously, U2 did an epic 40-night residency to open the venue,” Walshe said. “Since then, we’ve had Dead & Company, we’ve had Phish. Dead & Company is coming back again in just a couple of months. And our ‘Postcard from Earth,’ Darren Aronofsky’s movie, is a Sphere experience that lots of guests come for.”

Walshe noted that another residency, the Eagles, returns to the venue this weekend.

Sphere is bidding to be the city’s busiest venue with multiple productions weekly and even daily. Using its Big Sky camera technology, Sphere’s tech team made a movie from U2’s concert appearances. Walshe said the immersive experience is so convincing that it’s hard not to imagine Bono not being in the building.

“Now, people can come to ‘VU2,’ which is a totally immersive experience, where utilizing the cutting-edge technology that we have, you know you’re going to see a movie, and after five, six, seven, 10 minutes, your brain tricks you into thinking that you’re at a concert. It even happens to me. And I can be sitting in ‘VU2.’ Look, I run the building. I know who’s in the building at any given time. I know when Bono is not in the building. And I find myself looking at the movie going, ‘Who let him in?’”

The number of events at Sphere continues to pile up. The venue recently hosted its 1,000th showing of “Postcard,” a landmark that demonstrates the stay-busy strategy.

Walshe also said the venue is ramping up its ability to give back to the community and the second round of art competitions for local students to get their work on the exosphere is underway.

The venue invited submissions with a Fourth of July theme in the first Sphere XO Student Design Challenge marking the first time the public would have a say in the imagery that would appear on the building’s exosphere. Students from elementary school to college level participated.

The second round is underway with an Earth Day theme and that art will be displayed April 22.

Among the prizes for winners is that students from the entire student body of the school will get to attend a Sphere presentation.

Walshe also noted that the Sphere influence would spread globally with a network of Sphere buildings. The next one is scheduled to be built in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

“But Vegas was and will always hold its position as being the first Sphere in the world,” Walshe said.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.