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LAS VEGAS – In a city dripping with extravagance, a new structure stands out: the Sphere.   Towering more than 100m tall in the heart of Las Vegas, the new entertainment venue pulsates with vibrant animations and advertisements that are visible even from the airport 5km away.  Developers have tipped Madison Square Garden (MSG) Entertainment’s US$2.3 billion (S$3.1 billion) creation as a beacon of hope to revitalise tourism, but the hype has been met with criticism over environmental concerns and it being an eyesore in the city.  I visited the recently opened Las Vegas attraction on Jan 10 during a trip to The MSG Sphere, which opened its doors in September 2023 after five years in the making, is the poster child for a trending screen-centric tourist experience, akin to Singapore’s virtual waterfall in Changi Airport Terminal 2 – but more than 200 times larger – and has the potential to spark a wave of similar attractions.  The dome alone required 3,000 tons of steel to hold the external display, made of 1.2 million hockey puck-size LED bulbs that are bright enough to be seen from golf courses outside the Las Vegas Strip even at the peak of day.  Part building, part glorified billboard, the Sphere’s facade is wrapped with headline- and viral-worthy animations from a blinking eyeball surveying the city and funny faces, to advertisements – said to cost some US$450,000 a day – for the likes of Google, Sony and Intel.  Within the enigmatic globe lies an exhibition centre and a show-stopping arena with the world’s largest LED screen. An expansive marvel spanning almost three football fields, the curving 270-degree screen is truly the epitome of cinematic grandeur, virtually extending as far as the eye can see. As I shuffled along narrow lanes to one of the more than 17,500 seats, it was hard not to feel dizzy from the sheer height of the stands; I pictured a long, nasty tumble if I were to trip. The only available show during my visit was Postcard From Earth, an environmental documentary filmed by American director Darren Aronofsky of Black Swan fame.  The hour-long feature, punctuated with sweeping shots of natural landscapes and urban environments, is designed as a technical showcase of the screen’s tech, and it sure delivers. The film begins with a narrow frame resembling a standard cinema screen, introducing a futuristic scene of astronauts drifting past an uninhabited Earth. As the narrative unfolds, detailing the history of Earth, the display eventually expands to fill the entire 256 million-pixel screen. There was a collective gasp from the audience as we were hit with the first wide, tracking shot of mountains against a cloudless sky that engulfed all of my vision.  These panning shots of vistas, creatures and cities never got old – an utter spectacle brimming with detail. Vertigo kicked in as the camera dived into the Grand Canyon’s Horseshoe Bend, and I jolted backwards when a spider on-screen leapt towards us. A dramatic time-lapse of a hurricane building up over a barren field was a particular highlight. Heightening the immersive experience are some 160,000 speakers within the Sphere, and haptic seats that rumble to the crescendos of the film’s dramatic sequences and every swoosh of the camera.  The experience is probably the next best thing after visiting the actual locations – and one that modern virtual reality headsets can only hope to accomplish. The venue is also used for gigs. Performances by U2 against the vivid backdrop of the Sphere’s screen drew rapturous reactions for the venue, while rock band Dead & Company, featuring guitar virtuoso John Mayer, will take to the next-generation stage soon. MSG said it expects the Sphere to turn profitable by 2024, but analysts said it is likely some ways off, considering its whopping building costs and reported operating costs of nearly US$8 million for its first quarter.  The Sphere made headlines in late 2023 after it reported a nearly US$100 million operating loss, but business slowly picked up as U2’s residency, which takes place till March, and Postcard From Earth took in more than US$75 million after their first quarter running. Concerns over the Sphere’s divisive design and environmental impact could mean similar structures are not welcome elsewhere in the world. Light pollution from excessive man-made light permeating the sky has been found to impact wildlife behaviour and our ability to see stars. MSG has backed down on plans to build a similar structure in London aimed at boosting the city’s live music industry. The plans were met with strong opposition from those alarmed by the potential impact on residents nearby, and campaigns like Stop MSG Sphere emerged. Londoners were even more incensed after being offered blackout blinds to mitigate the orb’s glowing images. London Mayor Sadiq Khan ruled against the Sphere’s construction over concerns of light intrusion that could affect human health and the outlook of properties nearby.  It would also be a bane for energy consumption, much like the Vegas Sphere, which, according to S&P Global, is estimated to consume as much as 95,779 MWh, which translates to some 20,000 times more than the annual consumption of a typical household in Singapore. The Sphere in London could cause “significant harm to the general amenity enjoyed by residents of their own homes”, said Mr Khan.  The costly, controversial structure was a gamble well-suited for Sin City, where it might find its only home. In defiance of its detractors, I’d return in a heartbeat. And, I’d recommend anyone visiting Vegas to go.  Unlike any film I had experienced before, the Sphere’s insane visuals had me on the edge of my seat throughout the film; I repeatedly whipped out my phone to photograph what I was seeing, despite promising myself not to be “that tourist” viewing sights through a small screen. The imagination runs wild at the prospect of experiencing other cinematic spectacles like Interstellar or Top Gun: Maverick on a screen so grand. I’d pay the S$150 price of entry again, and I wouldn’t think twice. In the words of U2 frontman Bono, who said in an interview about the concert at the Sphere: “It’s not showbiz as usual. Sometimes it takes a grand madness to build a place that we’ve never experienced before.”