The Live100: James Dolan

In 2023, The New York Times previewed the opening of James Dolan’s one-of-a-kind entertainment venue in Las Vegas with the headline, “New York Loves to Hate Him. Can a $2.3 billion Sphere Redeem Jim Dolan?”

Today, after his long-suffering New York Knicks claimed their first championship in 50-plus years and galvanized a city, the free-spending Dolan has been elevated from loathed to, well, grudgingly accepted (like your cantankerous uncle at Thanksgiving) in the eyes of many New Yorkers. Performing (or getting married) at Madison Square Garden, which has been owned by the Dolan family for more than three decades, is still on every artist’s bucket list. And as for his Vegas brainchild, Dolan—whom his friend and sometime business partner Irving Azoff calls a “mad genius”—has been more than redeemed. Since its opening show with U2 on Sept. 29, 2023, the 18,000-capacity arena has transformed the very idea of what a concert can be.

Slack-jawed fans of acts ranging from the Eagles to the Backstreet Boys to Dead & Company have marveled at Sphere’s programmable 16k digital screens (covering 160,000 square feet of the venue’s interior), which enable pristine resolution of virtually any visuals that can be imagined. 167,000 discrete speakers behind the screens utilize Holoplot beamforming and wave field synthesis to… um… OK, we don’t know what that is, but the sound is fucking incredible.

The arena’s astounding visuals can send the crowd hurtling into space, zooming over mountains and deserts, rolling through neon-lit city streets or bouncing into a landscape of cartoon characters. As we wrote after the U2 show, “What it offers artists is nothing less than a canvas for world-building.”

Artists have seized that opportunity, projecting the triumphs, themes and talismans of their careers and brands as galactic spectacles, and crafting immersive environments that are pure catnip for fans.

Since the Irish rockers first broke the place in, superstar acts including Phish, Kenny Chesney, No Doubt, Illenium, Carín León and, most recently, Metallica have turned Sphere into personalized paradises for their audiences.

To give you a hint as to the enhancements the Sphere’s toolbox can apply to a beloved catalog, the Eagles’ “Hotel California” is accompanied by towering, cinematic visuals of the titular resort in all its sinister glory, from dark desert highway to creepy garden to dining tables peopled with mannequins to Irving collecting a giant check. (OK, we made that last part up.) “Life in the Fast Lane,” meanwhile, was further adrenalized with a massive red Ford Thunderbird that tore up the virtual horizon. Talk about white-line fever. The band members were integrated into animated segments and “haptic” elements made the snap of a snare drum or the thump of a bassline tangible to the crowd.

Per Pollstar, U2’s 40-show run reportedly generated about $245m (north of $6m per show), while the Eagles, whose run will conclude in March, have already racked up more than $285m (close to $5m per show). BSB’s 56 shows have sold out, grossing $150m and captivating some 900k fans, many of them observing the unofficial all-white dress code.

These concerts have redefined the residency in a location that regularly brings busloads of visitors from around the world to its doorstep. The exterior, or Exosphere, meanwhile, is an ever-shifting video installation that has become the most eye-catching feature on the Vegas skyline, drumming up even more business.

Indeed, word has it that the magnetic pull of Sphere has sucked much of the oxygen out of the rest of the live sector in Vegas, with many other venues struggling to compete.

But Sphere isn’t just a concert space—it’s also the most immersive movie theater on earth, as evidenced by the phenomenal success of 1939’s celluloid classic The Wizard of Oz, which has generated an emerald mountain of cash in its Spherical “4D” incarnation. With an array of digital effects and an expanded frame, this retooled Oz has bewitched audiences to the tune of $400m+ in gross receipts on 3m+ tix since August 2025. An even more enhanced version with animatronics, custom scents and other innovations—hello, “Glinda Glitter”—debuted in September, so expect the little winged monkeys in your life to demand a viewing.

More recently, it was announced that Oprah Winfrey’s AHA, an immersive “symphony for the senses,” has been scheduled for the first weekend in April 2027; the project is purportedly a mix of live storytelling and music by the likes of Grammy magnet Jacob Collier (who is slated to incorporate the audience into a giant choir), poet Ocean Vuong, musician Ajeet and gospel vocalist Wintley Phipps.

Also coming to Sphere screens: the biggest pair of lips in history. A “Sphere-ified” version of kinky audience-participation classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show will swoop into the venue sometime in 2027, and we shudder to imagine what scents might be added. In any case, prepare to give yourself over to absolute pleasure. Rice sold separately.