Discoveries #13 | The Sphere and Future of Live Events
Welcome to Edition 13 of Discoveries. Each week, I share inspiration on design, product building, and what's next.
The Sphere and Future of Live Events
Last weekend, I visited the Sphere in Las Vegas. Like many, I’d seen the viral clips online—the giant blinking eyeball, the moon, the spinning globe.
I was there to see the Backstreet Boys (yes, still iconic), but the true main character was the building itself. The Sphere isn’t just a venue. It’s a prototype for what live experiences are going to become.
As someone who spends nearly every waking hour thinking about the future of events, I walked away super inspired. Here’s what stood out:
The venue is now part of the performance
We’re used to the venue being the backdrop. At the Sphere, the building is the show. The interior screen wraps 160,000 square feet around the audience. It’s 16K resolution and fully immersive—you don’t just watch, you’re enveloped. It felt like stepping into a simulation built for feeling.
The experience is choreographed, not staged
There were lasers. There were 400-foot visuals. There were haptic seats. There were 160,000 speakers (!) using beamforming tech to deliver perfect audio to every seat. The whole experience was precisely orchestrated—less like a concert, more like a symphony for the senses. It made me realize how fragmented most live shows actually feel in comparison.
Every seat is a front row seat
The usual hierarchy of “good” and “bad” seats doesn’t apply here. The Sphere eliminates that divide. The visuals are all around you, and the sound is optimized no matter where you sit. It’s a reminder that technology can flatten access—not just in streaming, but in physical experiences too.
The building is the billboard
The exterior, called the “Exosphere,” is wrapped in one million LED lights and is visible from miles away—even from planes flying into Vegas. It’s the most literal example I’ve ever seen of architecture as marketing. It announces itself to the world before you ever step inside—and somehow, it still exceeds expectations once you do.
A new creative frontier is opening up
The Sphere isn’t just a venue—it’s a new medium. Artists and performers will have to reimagine how they tell stories, how they direct attention, how they move people emotionally. It’s not just about performing on a stage anymore. It’s about performing within an environment.
It left me wondering: In 10 years, will immersive spaces like this be the norm? Will we see concerts with spatial audio and sensory design as the default, not the exception? Will audiences come expecting not just a show, but a transportive experience?
The Sphere doesn’t just raise the bar. It redraws the blueprint.
It's worth seeing —not just for the spectacle, but for the questions it plants in your brain after.
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Have a great week,
Blake
P.S. I'm always looking for feedback. Reply and let me know what you think! (I reply to every email)
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