Las Vegas’ MSG Sphere looks to take live performances to the next level

by: Robyn Dexter Dec 4, 2018

As live performance venues continue to look for new and innovative ways to immerse their attendees fully in the experience, the company behind Madison Square Garden looks to take things up a notch.

The company has planned an ambitious new project in Las Vegas: an 18,000-seat, dome-shaped performance venue in The Venetian called the MSG Sphere. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Madison Square Garden Company execs James Dolan and David Dibble explained that the unique venue walls will be made up of massive screens and 157,000 ultra-directional speakers. Dibble noted that the gigantic video screens will arc up over the audience “like a planetarium times ten” to create an all-encompassing experience, with the speaker system embedded in the walls behind the screens. The flooring, too, will be part of this immersive experience.

“We have developed a haptic flooring system,” Dibble told Rolling Stone. “It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but the lowest bass response, instead of being transmitted through the air, is literally transmitted through the floor, directly into your feet or onto the chair in which you sit, and it’s a remarkable experience.”

The MSG Sphere is set to open by 2021, with another similar model planned for East London.