LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's been five years since the MSG Sphere broke ground and it is finally time for it to open.
Friday night, a red carpet event kicked off a opening night for the first performance at Sphere, the inaugural U2 residency show taking place at 8 p.m. The show was completely sold out, however tickets remain for future dates scheduled through December.
The night has been long awaited, everyone in Las Vegas has watched this one of a kind, $2 billion structure being built from the ground up.
The MSG Sphere has changed the Las Vegas skyline. Visitors this week were excited to see the newest addition to the Strip.
"It is quite stunning to look at," said Stephen Loper from Colorado.
"It was a shock for us," said Marylou Sloan from New Zealand when asked if she expected to see Sphere on her trip.
The $2.3 billion Sphere has been in the works for years, with groundbreaking in 2018.
The Sphere was once an out of this world vision, but Las Veags has slowly watched an empty lot next to the Venetian resort transform, watching crews dig and build with massive cranes around the entire site.
The original completion date was in 2021. Despite construction being deemed essential during the pandemic, the building was delayed due to supply chain issues.
Eventually work resumed and in 2021 the heaviest lift was complete—a 340,000-pound ring that is part of the steel frame for the venue's domed roof.
The sphere started to take shape with tons and tons of steel beams. The exterior LEDs were slowly installed over the past year. Meanwhile, crews were working hard inside to put the giant monitor together and wiring thousands of speakers.
On July 4, 2023, the outside was finished and the lights were flipped on for the first time. Locals can see the flow all over the valley each night.
The Sphere took social media by storm, with videos circulating around the world.
Visitors say it is something that will bring them back to the "entertainment capital of the world."
