The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) has just announced its ambitious desire to construct a sphere-shaped venue dubbed the “MSG Sphere” in Las Vegas. Currently, the venue is set to be completed in 2020 and will contain 18,000 seats, and room for an additional 5,000 standing.
CEO of the MSG Company James Dolan has highlighted EDM concerts as one of the main selling points to the venue. And with Deadmau5 and Swedish House Mafia among the few to have graced the stage at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York, Dolan knows first hand what an EDM show looks and feels like.
Speaking to EDM shows in particular, he told USA Today that “all of the artistry actually occurs prior to the show… And then the show is essentially run. What I got from that was it wasn’t just about the performance and the lights and the music, it was about being together…”
Dolan has also made the cutting-edge technology a focal point of the new venue which is set to break ground near the Sands’ Venetian and Palazzo complex later this year. MSG has teamed up with German firm Holoplot to introduce a revolutionary sound system that “sends sound directly to a specific location instead of blasting it over speakers spread through a venue.” Each seat will also boast hi-speed internet allowing visitors and guests to share their experiences in real-time and even to creative interactive experiences with the performers in some cases.
The Sphere itself boasts an exterior featuring 190,000 linear feet of LED technology (36 miles end to end) to display custom images and video for what’s happening inside. On the flip-side, a high-resolution screen will stretch across the entire arena roof 180,000 square feet (or 4 acres) long to create a massive immersive visual experience. Think massive 360-degree IMAX.
Check out the video below to learn more about the project.
H/T: USA Today