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Executives from the Sphere Entertainment Co. — the entity behind the forthcoming new event space opening soon in Las Vegas — have unveiled its new Sphere Immersive Sound system, created in tandem with Berlin-based audio company Holoplot. The system will appear this fall as a key production component of the company’s new Sphere venue in Las Vegas, which opens Sept. 29 with its 25-date U2 residency.
Executives involved with the project, including Jim Dolan (executive chairman/CEO, Madison Square Garden Corp. and Sphere Entertainment Co.), David Dibble (CEO, MSG Ventures) and Roman Sick (CEO, Holoplot), demonstrated the audio system on site in Las Vegas for a small group of reporters on Thursday (July 20).
“I don’t care if you’ve seen U2 100 times,” Dolan remarked before an associate pressed play on recordings including the Irish band’s recent reimagining of its 1984 classic “Pride (In The Name Of Love).” “You’ve never seen and experienced this.”
For the Sphere team, Sphere Immersive Sound is the cornerstone — along with its 160,000-square-foot LED display plane, which remained off during Thursday’s demonstration — of its new 20,000-capacity venue, located near the Las Vegas Strip next to The Venetian. And, somewhat surprisingly, Sphere partnered with Holoplot for the project, rather than a more established player in the pro audio space.
According to Dibble, Sphere executives learned of the German company, founded in 2011, through its work outside of live entertainment: In December 2016, the startup deployed its patented 3D Audio-Beamforming technology in Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, Germany’s largest train station, to send multiple messages at the same frequency simultaneously to different parts of the facility.
Applied in a concert venue, this technology can ensure that listeners, regardless of location, hear identical mixes at identical volumes. Holoplot’s technology also harnesses algorithmic machine learning and environmental data collected in real-time by sensors throughout Sphere to further refine and standardize the sound ultimately heard by attendees.
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Sphere developed Sphere Immersive Sound to perfect audio for the venue’s specific acoustic space. “You’ll notice very few right angles here,” said Dibble, noting that for Sphere’s intimate, amphitheater-style seating, the company read from “the playbook from the ancient Greeks.” The seating format is key to Sphere’s appeal, but also created a monumental challenge. “How can we tackle acoustics in arguably the biggest nightmare seating format in live entertainment?” Dibble recalled the team wondering at the outset of the project.
That starts with approximately 1,600 permanently installed audio modules and 167,000 individually amplified speaker drivers, comprising hundreds of Holoplot’s X1 Matrix arrays, spread behind Sphere’s sprawling LED screen. As its name suggests, the X1 Matrix arrays combine the functionalities of vertical and horizontal line arrays, allowing users more control over where sound goes in a venue.
Like much of the Sphere project, audio design wasn’t conceived in a vacuum; an inevitable challenge of placing so much high-end audio equipment behind a state-of-the-art screen was ensuring the sounds produced wouldn’t distort visuals as they passed through the LED to listeners. The team wanted to “make the LED screen acoustically invisible,” Sick explained, hence the high number of small drivers spread across the screen’s large area, each producing a relatively small amount of audio to avoid disrupting Sphere’s video components.
That type of engineering trickery extends to the venue itself, including the seemingly-unremarkable black material covering every seat, which Dibble said has “the same audio-reflective value as human skin.” Acoustically, Sphere’s seats behave similarly regardless of whether they’re occupied by a body, which is further guaranteed by their perforated undersides.
For artists like U2, Sphere’s audio capabilities are nothing short of revelatory.
“The beauty of Sphere is not only the groundbreaking technology that will make it so unique, with the world’s most advanced audio system integrated into a structure which is designed with sound quality as a priority; it’s also the possibilities around immersive experiences in real and imaginary landscapes,” The Edge said in a statement. “In short, it’s a canvas of an unparalleled scale and image resolution, and a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
And according to Dibble, Sphere’s tools are also “intuitive, straightforward and, dare I say, easy.” The executive touted the notion of a “show on a stick,” where artists playing Sphere could effectively give the facility’s staff a thumb drive with specifics for their concerts and be up and running within minutes; sound engineers will even be able to bring in their own boards to interface with the system. It’s “not a heavy lift,” Dibble added.
But Sphere Immersive Audio’s richly detailed output also isn’t for the faint of heart. “Some artists will find it daunting,” Dolan said. “If you sing the wrong note, everyone’s gonna hear it.”
HOLOPLOT
While Sphere Immersive Audio has been customized and scaled for the Las Vegas venue, some artists have already used a version of the technology while performing at another venue in MSG’s portfolio, New York’s 2,600-capacity Beacon Theatre, which introduced it in August 2022 during a pair of solo concerts by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio.
Dibble expects MSG to implement the technology across its portfolio of venues, including its namesake arena — though, he concluded, “Let’s get this open first.”
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The death of Tupac “2Pac” Shakur remains unsolved but a development in the case sparked an investigation that might uncover additional details. Las Vegas police say they searched a local home and also mentioned a person of interest allegedly connected to 2Pac and his tragic passing.
Local outlet KLAS reports that Las Vegas police detectives entered a home this past Monday (July 17) after presenting a search warrant in Henderson, Nev. The warrant also had a name of an individual named Duane Davis, who also goes under the alias Keffe D.
According to sources speaking to the outlet, the warrant was to obtain any information, including notes, photos, and the like, in connection to 2Pac’s 1996 shooting death. The list of items taken from the home is not known to the public.
The home in question is currently occupied by unnamed residents who reportedly told reporters to leave their property and also seemingly threatened violence after those individuals sought to seek out any information into the search and ongoing investigation.
2Pac died after he was shot on September 7 of 1996 after leaving a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand Plaza. The rapper and actor succumbed to his wounds on September 13 of the same year.
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On Tuesday in Las Vegas, July 4th fireworks weren’t the only things lighting up the sky. For the first time ever, the external dome of The Sphere — a new venue opening this September on the Las Vegas strip — was animated in a dynamic visual display demonstrating the full capacity of what this dome, Exosphere, can do.
During the display, Exosphere was lit with an American flag motif, lit as the moon, as fireworks and as other wild visuals.
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“The Exosphere is more than a screen or a billboard — it is living architecture, and unlike anything that exists anywhere in the world,” Guy Barnett, The Sphere’s svp brand strategy and creative development, said in a statement. “Last night’s show provided a glimpse of the Exosphere’s captivating power, and the possibilities for artists, partners, and brands to create compelling and impactful stories to connect with audiences in new ways.”
Exosphere is a 580,000 square foot programmable LED exterior made up of roughly 1.2 million LED “pucks,” each spaced eight inches apart. Each puck is made of 48 LED diodes, and every diode is able to to display 256 million different colors. Exosphere’s July 4 show was the beginning of programming that will continue throughout this month.
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Sphere Entertainment
Built and operated by Madison Square Garden Entertainment, The Sphere officially opens this September with a residency from U2. This residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, will feature the band playing its 1991 classic LP Achtung Baby, with shows extending from September through December.
For concerts, the MSG Sphere at The Venetian can hold 20,000 standing spectators or 17,500 seated guests, with 23 VIP suites. Connected to the Venetian Resort via a 1,000-foot-long pedestrian bridge, The Sphere will include 160,000 square feet of video viewing space and state-of-the-art spatial audio.
“Sphere’s Exosphere is a 360-degree canvas for brand storytelling that will be seen around the world, offering our partners an unparalleled opportunity to become part of the greatest show on Earth,” said David Hopkinson, president and chief operating officer of MSG Sports. “There’s nothing comparable to the impact from displaying innovative brand and immersive content on the world’s largest video screen. The extraordinary experiences we can create are only limited by imagination, and we’re thrilled to finally share with the world the spectacular potential of the Exosphere.”
See more photos of the Exosphere below:
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Exosphere
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50 Cent has just leveled up with his wine and spirits business. He has struck a deal with the with Las Vegas Golden Knights.
As spotted on TMZ the Queens, New York native has brought his brands to Sin City in stunning fashion. This week, he announced that Le Chemin du Roi Champagne and Branson Cognac are now the official cognac and champagne of the newly crowned National Hockey League champions.
“The multi-year partnership will highlight the award-winning Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi Champagne throughout upcoming seasons. The two spirits will be labeled as The Official Champagne and The Official Cognac of the Vegas Golden Knights. Product from Sire Spirits was in the locker room during the team’s celebration as 2023 Stanley Cup Champions” the official press release read.
In addition to the co-branding rights and in arena placements, both parties will partner to bring good to the Las Vegas community through 50 Cent’s G-Unity Foundation. Founded in 2003, the nonprofit empowers children and youth in America’s cities to develop the confidence, strength and skills to win in life. Last year, Jackson announced the G-Unity Business Lab with the Houston Independent School District. The after-school entrepreneurship program, which enrolled students from Wheatley, Worthing and Kashmere high schools, offers the chance to learn core business values and teaches practical skills to develop business ideas with input from area business leaders, corporations and visiting professors including Jackson.
50 expressed his enthusiasm regarding the deal in a formal statement:
“I’m excited for Sire Spirits to close its first NHL partnership deal with the Vegas Golden Knights,” he said. “Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi Champagne are championship brands for winning teams. Bill Foley and his entire team know how to win and are the perfect partners for my brands and for me to extend my charitable efforts in the Las Vegas community through the G-Unity Foundation. Hockey is an exciting sport and Las Vegas is a top market for entertainment. I look forward to working closely with the entire Golden Knights Organization.”
This is the Las Vegas Golden Knight’s first Stanley Cup win.
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Less than five hours before Garth Brooks kicks off his new Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Thursday night (May 18), he swears he doesn’t know what his first song will be.
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But the superstar loves flying without a net. “It’s exciting, right?” he says, talking to Billboard in the afternoon before Garth Brooks/Plus ONE opens. “But still, you’re not in this business as long as I‘ve been without having some kind of sense about you. So the net is the people that come see us. They’ve got me. They want to see me fly without a net because they’ve got me if I fall, but I think they like it as much as I do.”
And, he adds, making it up as he goes along is a chance to learn something new about himself as a performer more than 30 years in. “I don’t want to go to a gig, check the boxes and say good night. I want to come off the stage knowing something about me that I didn’t know when I came out there,” he says.
The run comes nine years after his five-year residency at Wynn’s Encore Theater concluded in 2014. Like that show, Garth Brooks/Plus ONE is largely a one-man show, but the Plus ONE gives him latitude to bring different guests up every night. His band will be seated in the audience, so when the mood strikes, he can bring them up to do a full-throated, muscular version of a song like “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” rather than a stripped-down acoustic set. Or his wife Trisha Yearwood could join, as could other entertainers. But as he also explained, the music is the ultimate Plus ONE that has been with him his whole life.
As much as he plans to hit the stage without a plan, Brooks does know that there are songs that people are coming to hear, and “99% of those are going to be Garth Brooks songs,” he says. So, unlike the Wynn show, which relied heavily on songs by artists like James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Bob Seger, who influenced him, it sounds like this show will still include vital covers since Brooks is a veritable human jukebox, but that more of the songs will come from his own voluminous catalog.
Attendees must lock up their phones and no videoing or taping is allowed during the show. Brooks says that gives him the freedom to perform previously unreleased material or songs that he is still in the process of writing. In fact, he vowed to play something brand-new the first evening. “It’s a laboratory,” he says.
He landed at Caesars after having serious discussions with a number of Las Vegas venues and a long courtship. “[Caesars executives] traveled to Nashville. We talked over dinners. We didn’t talk about business, we talked about children, talked about stuff like that. They made it sound very much that they were very interested in phone calls, texts,” he says. “They were going through some other stuff with some of their other entertainers, and when you would talk about that, their immediate response was, ‘We’re focused on you. This is a goal for us.’ It made you feel very wanted. And to be honest with you, it wasn’t an inexpensive deal for them. So they have gone above and beyond, which is very sweet, but it’s like Steve Wynn said: ‘Now all the pressure is on you.’ Now it’s up to you to get out there and hopefully make them feel it was worth it.”
Brooks has always been sensitive to ticket pricing, with his tickets to his non-Vegas shows rarely exceeding $100. But the tickets for this run go as high as $2,500 face value for the front row and are $10,000 for a pair on the secondary market. With no seat more than 145 feet from stage, the lowest ticket price in the 4,100-seat venue is $99 and tickets average out around $350. Brooks says he will continue his long tradition of “stubbing,” where crew members move fans from the farthest seats to a closer location for free.
“What I love about these guys, too, was we said, ‘Hey, look, it shouldn’t just be for the rich to enjoy. Let us still do our stub thing that we do.’ And they have allowed us to do that,” he says. “You understand that for them to make their money back, things have to happen in certain ways. But at the same time, we get to keep our same traditions as well. And my promise to everybody else, too, is if this is too expensive, I get it. We’ll do a dive bar somewhere for free. Or we’ll go play somewhere and hopefully get the ticket prices more around your thing.”
With the 2023 run of 27 shows already sold out, Brooks announced 18 new Colosseum dates for 2024 earlier Thursday. Fans who signed up through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program for 2023 and were locked out will get first dibs on 2024 tickets. The new Verified Fan on sale date is May 31.
The price tag on opening the much-anticipated Sphere arena in Las Vegas is now at a whopping $2.3 billion after the company added an additional $125 million recently, according to documents filed with the SEC on Wednesday (May 10).
That’s more than $1 billion increase from the original projection of $1.2 billion when the Sphere was first announced in 2018, although industry experts say the more realistic estimate came the following year when architects from architecture firm AECON estimated the actual cost of the project would likely be $1.7 billion.
The project’s price has continued to rise since breaking ground in 2021 due to negative effects on the construction business caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the the one-of-a-kind entertainment complex’s unusual nature and design. Company officials cited the “overall complexity of the project” for the current increase while noting they had made “significant progress,” including completing the “LED installation on the Exosphere earlier in the third quarter” that will allow the venue to make dramatic design and appearance changes at the push of a button. Company officials have also made significant progress building out “the venue’s interior spaces, including the suites and hospitality areas,” the filing states.
U2 will open the venue on Sept. 29 with a five-week, 17-show run that has already generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales with tickets averaging between $1,200 to $1,500 apiece.
On March 30, Madison Square Garden Entertainment finalized plans to spin off its live entertainment business, and launch a new company called Sphere Entertainment Co. that included the Sphere venue, as well as its MSG’s sports television network MSG Networks and Tao Group Hospitality. Shortly after, the company sold its majority interest in Tao Group to Mohari Hospitality for about $300 million.
As of Tuesday, the Sphere Entertainment Co. had over $230 million in cash available, according to the SEC filing, thanks in part to the Tao Group sale, as well as $65 million in funds in a delayed draw term loan facility with Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. The recently spun-off company reported revenues of $363.3 million for its first quarter as Sphere Entertainment Company — a 3% increase of $10.8 million as compared to the same business sectors in prior year quarter. The company reported a 1.1% decrease in operating loss to $70.3 million and a 2.1% increase in adjusted operating income to $19.4 million.
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The rumor mill is swirling after Nelly and Ashanti were spotted holding hands following the boxing match between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, where the two were together ringside, according to Page Six.
While the duo have not confirmed that they are seeing each other again, fans are already celebrating on social media.
“Awww. Nelly and Ashanti are back together I’m here for it. They both aged beautifully,” one wrote.
Even fellow celebs got into the mix with fellow rapper Bow Wow writing in the comments section of an Instagram post from The Shade Room.“Yo mo! I know we not seeing eye to eye either really but from lil bro to big bro STOP PLAYING AND MARRY THIS WOMAN BRO!” fellow rapper Bow Wow wrote in the comments section of an Instagram post from The Shade Room. “You like 50 sit yo old ass down this your queen.”
The couple has been romantically linked on and off since the 2000s and this isn’t the first time that fans have hoped for a reunion. In December 2022, the pair performed their hit, “Body On Me,” in front of an audience where they were smiling and grinding on each other on stage. Later that month in an interview with Andy Cohen, Ashanti said she was surprised by the positive reaction from fans.
“My reaction was, ‘Wow.’ It was a lot of comments and a lot of people wanting that [us back together],” she said at the time, “What I will say is, we’re in a better place. You know, ’cause before, it was like [mimics fighting]. But we’re cool now. Yeah, we have some conversations, you know. So it’s cool.”
Cohen pushed the subject asking, “But you’re not getting back together?” The singer struggled to find words, simply responding, “I mean, I don’t…”
Fans on Twitter are celebrating the possible reunion with one making comparisons to the rekindled relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez which finally resulted in their marriage more than a decade after they broke up.
One user said that there was one person who really deserves the credit for the reunion.
Live Nation is facing a lawsuit from three people who say they were injured at last year’s Lovers & Friends Music Festival in Las Vegas, during a stampede triggered by false reports of gunfire.
In a complaint filed last week in Los Angeles, plaintiffs Carla Thomas, James Thomas and Aaliyah Aguilar claimed that Live Nation had “failed to take basic, reasonable steps” to protect them from such an incident.
“Plaintiffs screamed for help from the event organizers and security, but none came,” lawyers for the trio wrote. “Plaintiffs screamed for emergency medical care for their injuries, but none came.”
The two-day Lovers & Friends festival, held over a weekend last May, featured several R&B and rap artists, including Usher, Ludacris and Ne-Yo. But performances were briefly halted that Saturday when a large group of panicked attendees fled the venue over rumors of gun shots. Police later said that there was no evidence that a shooting took place.
Stampedes amid false reports of gunfire have cropped up several times in recent years. Fans suffered injuries during gunfire panics at a Future concert in Brooklyn in 2017, at Lil Wayne and Cardi B concerts in 2018, and at the 2019 Rolling Loud festival in Miami. Just last month, three fans were killed during a stampede at a GloRilla concert in western New York reportedly sparked by fears of a shooter.
In their lawsuit, Thomas, Thomas and Aguilar claimed that the rush at Lovers & Friends was triggered by a “loud noise,” causing a “sea of people” to surge toward them. They said they were “pushed, smashed, dragged, kicked, stepped on, trampled and crushed to the ground” during the incident, causing them “serious injuries” and emotional distress.
And their lawyers say that Live Nation is to blame – specifically, that the company was negligent in how it planned and operated the festival.
“Defendants failed to employ adequate, properly trained, monitored, and supervised reasonable security, safety and medical provision measures,” they wrote. “Defendants failed to provide a safe venue, one that provided adequate signs and warnings that would have guided the crowd into a particular emergency exit route in the event of an alarm or emergency.”
Such lawsuits are common after incidents in which fans are injured at concerts, but they’re not easy to win. Lawyers for the accusers will need to show that the incident was something Live Nation could have seen coming, and that it failed to take specific steps that would have prevented the injuries suffered by their clients.
A rep for Live Nation did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
There’s never a dull moment in Las Vegas, but this past weekend was a particularly jam-packed one for Sin City.
Taylor Swift brought The Eras Tour to Allegiant Stadium for two nights, Adele performed the last two nights of her Weekends With Adele concerts at Caesars Palace’s Colosseum (and announced that she’ll be back in June for more), Maroon 5 opened their hits-packed Dolby Live at Park MGM residency, and Kelly Clarkson announced a string of dates around her next album Chemistry starting in late July at Planet Hollywood’s Bakkt Theater.
5 Best Moments From Maroon 5’s Hits-Packed Las Vegas Residency
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On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie & Keith are breaking down all the Vegas action — including our very own Pop Shop field trip to see T-Swift and Katie’s review of Maroon 5’s opening weekend. Listen below:
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how U2 becomes just the fourth group with new top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in every decade from the 1980s onward, how Coi Leray and Bailey Zimmerman score their first top 10s on the Billboard Hot 100, and how Swift scores an impressive seven albums in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 for the first time.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard’s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard’s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s senior director of charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
Behati Prinsloo is supporting her husband Adam Levine as Maroon 5 kicked off their Las Vegas residency over the weekend, and the supermodel took to Instagram to document some adorable behind-the-scenes moments.
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The snaps featured the couple’s two daughters, 6-year-old Dusty Rose and 4-year-old Gio Grace, playing around backstage and watching their dad perform, as well as gorgeous selfies of Prinsloo. One of the photos gave the tiniest peek at the duo’s newborn baby, in which the child’s feet are seen laying on his mother’s legs.
Neither Levine nor Prinsloo have publicly announced the baby’s sex or name. “It’s zoned defense, as they say. It’s awesome,” the musician previously told Ryan Seacrest of being a father of three during an recent appearance on On-Air With Ryan Seacrest. “I love the chaos. I embrace the chaos.”
The Victoria’s Secret model shared the news that she and the “Moves Like Jagger” singer were expecting back in September, when she posted a casual photo on Instagram showing off her baby bump. However, the exciting news was somewhat overshadowed by a texting scandal involving Levine last fall, in which Instagram model Sumner Stroh shared alleged flirtatious messages exchanged between her and the singer. Stroh claimed she and Levine saw each other for a year and that in June, Levine asked if it would be OK to name his baby “Sumner” if it was a boy — just a few days after it was confirmed that Prinsloo was pregnant with the couple’s third child.
Levine denied having an affair, but took responsibility for having “poor judgement in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner.”