Sphere at Venetian Resort Debuts “Exosphere” in Spectacular Style

By Scott Roeben, on July 05 2023
3 min read 17 comments
Las Vegas Things to Do in Las Vegas

The Sphere at Venetian made good on its promise to wow the world with its Independence Day debut.

It’s tough to upstage live fireworks, but the Sphere managed to do just that. The Sphere didn’t just do a perfunctory July 4 show, but shared a number of impressive visual displays.

While the venue hasn’t opened yet, the outer screen (called the “exosphere”) put on a jaw-dropping show.

Everybody says their visuals are jaw-dropping and game-changing and life-altering, but the Sphere actually delivered the goods. It was even borderline immersive, if you can believe that.

Our vote for freakiest thing on the Sphere so far was this giant eyeball. Thanks to Life in Las Vegas for the pic.

While Las Vegas casinos were shooting off old-school fireworks (yawn), Madison Square Garden was putting its massive new screen through its paces and flexing its pixels.

Yes, parts of the show were perfunctory, but the Sphere was just getting started.

As we’re already into the sixth paragraph of this story, it’s now appropriate for us to remind you we were the first to share the Sphere would officially debut its exterior screen on July 4, 2023. First paragraph, bragging. Sixth paragraph, modesty. You’ll get the hang of it if you ever do a Las Vegas blog. Good luck with that.

The displays ran the gamut, from dazzling to weird to completely mind-bending. Mouths were made agape, and our friend Kerry (Tweets below) says the videos don’t do the Sphere justice, compared to seeing it in person.

Some of the video segments were examples of what’s to come, including seasonal displays, like a giant revolving jack-o’-lantern.

A number of the segments were obviously intended to pique the interest of potential advertisers.

The Sphere has said it wants to generate more than $100 million a year from ads on the exosphere. While the venue isn’t intended to host big sporting events (boxing is a possibility), there was a lot of sportsball imagery.

The Sphere didn’t appear to hold anything back. The graphics surpassed the hype, a rare phenomenon.

Here’s another look at this eye-catching addition to Las Vegas, sure to be a visitor must-see right out of the gate.

During its impressive debut, the exterior of the Sphere was the focus, and we made a conscious decision to set aside our concerns about the Sphere’s wellbeing. The financial part of its wellbeing, in case you have been living under a rock.

The Sphere cost $2.2 billion to build. The only problem with that is it doesn’t really seem to have a business model, unless you consider a U2 residency (where the band gets 90 percent of ticket sales) and $50 movies a business model.

But July 4 wasn’t a time for nitpicking a project that’s a billion dollars over its estimated budget. In essence, their budget was off any entire Circa Las Vegas hotel-casino.

It’s about Las Vegas delivering epic eye candy and swinging for the fences and going for broke and other, less awkward, cliches.

For one night at least, the Sphere silenced the critics.

We are not one of those critics, by the way! We have said all along the Sphere would be cool. It was even cooler than expected. We’ve also predicted the Sphere will file bankruptcy. These things aren’t mutually exclusive.

Seeing the visual splendor that is the Sphere, you may ask how one actually sees the Sphere, where can one park to view the exterior, when will the Sphere light shows happen, you know, the hours of operation. These are all wonderful questions the Sphere hasn’t answered yet. Details, schmetails!

We aren’t here for all that! We’re here to praise Madison Square Garden and the Sphere team for a truly stunning debut. The quality, variety and sheer quantity was a wonderful gift for locals and tourists alike.

Here’s  more video of the debut of the Sphere at Venetian.


Viability aside, this venue is the kind of attraction that has helped make Las Vegas the ultimate destination.

It’s a round Fremont Street Experience and the bar has been set pretty high for spectacle.

Accounting: Boring. Light shows: Dazzling.

Job well done, The Sphere at Venetian. Until you find a naming rights partner. Maybe a discounted price would help. Just saying. The electric bill is going to cost a fortune.