The Sphere Is Entering Its Rave Era
Electronic music is once again changing Las Vegas as we know it with the first-ever EDM residency coming to the Sphere at the end of the year.
Mikey Francis is a career DJ in Las Vegas who works at major clubs like Hakkasan, LIV, and OMNIA. But when he was growing up in the city, the entertainment landscape looked very different.
“Vegas used to be more comedy and Cirque du Soleil. The traditional Vegas shows,” Francis says. “Then all of a sudden the billboards started showing David Guetta and Tiësto. Now it feels like the casinos—and everything—is built around DJ entertainment and clubs.”
This December, DJs will shift Vegas entertainment once again when Anyma becomes the first electronic artist to perform at the Sphere. He’s playing six sold-out dates: December 27–31, 2024, and January 1, 2025. The major melodic techno artist originally announced only the New Year’s Eve event, but added five more nights in December when demand was clearly there. This week, he will announce an additional two nights: January 10–11, 2025.
EDM is proving as popular as previous Sphere acts including U2, Dead & Company, and Phish, and adding to a new era of entertainment in Las Vegas, which also launched its first hip-hop residency this year.
“One of the big question marks that [the Sphere] has is to what extent can they book artists outside of these core legacy rock acts? I would imagine [booking Anyma] is very encouraging,” says Eric Renner Brown, a senior editor at Billboard who has covered the Sphere extensively. “If I was the Sphere I would be touting this to every booking agent for dance acts, and if I were a booking agent I would be heartened. Suddenly, this isn't a question mark. There is now evidence that this genre can sell in that room.”
Globally renowned for his visuals, Matteo Milleri (aka Anyma) was a natural choice to be the first electronic artist to play the Sphere. In the promotional video for his Sphere run, a giant robot slams its hand on the wall of the Sphere’s LED exterior, shattering a layer of digital glass just before the massive electronic beat comes in.
Milleri has brought his signature robotic characters to epic locations before—including Coachella, Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, and Atakoy Marina Arena in Istanbul—and even worked on The Weeknd's One-Night-Only tour stop in São Paulo, but the Sphere surpasses them all.
Brown remarks that the Sphere has encouraged every artist who performs there to design visuals that fully utilize its 160,000-square-foot wraparound LED display.
“You could bring your concert visuals and blast that up on The Sphere screen, but it would be the same effect of having a 70-inch high-def TV and plugging in your VHS,” Brown says, also noting that Milleri will likely face the growing pains involved with doing some completely new. “It's only been bands up until now. Anyma is going to have to figure things out in the moment. He's the guinea pig, as far as dance music goes.”
Milleri isn't just the first EDM artist to play the Sphere; he is also the first electronic artist to hold something resembling a traditional residency in Las Vegas. Until now, DJ residencies have only been at clubs like the ones where Francis is a resident.
But Milleri’s run of shows puts him in the same status as Celine Dion, Silk Sonic, and even Frank Sinatra, with the ability to book multiple shows at a seated concert venue. While other DJs could most likely sell the 20,000 tickets to fill up the Sphere for one-night, the financial investment of curating visuals that maximize the Sphere is a massive financial undertaking. Brown notes that, “An artist would lose so much money to do one night only."
But with Milleri leading the way, other DJs are surely setting a multi-date run at the Sphere as their new goal. Francis himself has aspirations to play there.
“That's on the bucket list,” Francis says. “It looks so cool. I would love to do that.”
Francis has seen electronic music change Las Vegas. Now electronic music just might change Vegas once again.