I saw a U2 concert film at the recently opened Sphere venue.

The facility cost over $2 billion and can hold over 15,000 folks. The experience is akin to an IMAX cinema with better visuals and sound. It’s definitely a premium experience and something Vegas can pull off, along with Abu Dhabi. The experience itself is not that much different than what you would get using a VR headset.

However, The Sphere should record every concert and sell that content to the VR media/tech companies. Along with thousands of others, I watched a film recording of the recent U2 concert series.

Tickets to the live U2 show held last year began at $500 —- with most going for Super Bowl prices. For a couple hundred bucks, the film concert gave about 80% of the experience minus the energy from the crowd. Of course, the whole purpose of going to a concert gets defeated by watching it on a screen. Nonetheless, the AI-generated visuals and sounds, along with the brilliant design are worth the price of admission. I’ve been to Epcot Center (Orlando) and Auroville (India) which have similar spherical monuments. The Sphere tops them all from a materialistic standpoint.

Before Burning Man

Like the classic U2 song, “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” it was an experience worth checking out. The visuals of “Where the Streets have No Name” were stunning.