Year of Sphere: Dead & Company and Eagles

Dean Budnick on March 19, 2025

photo credit: Chloe Weir

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On Thursday, Dead & Company will return to Sphere for a six week run at the venue. In addition, the Eagles just announced that they have added four September dates. With all this in mind, here’s a look at what the members of both groups had to say about the venue in our recent cover story (we’ll share accounts from U2 and Phish over the days to come).

“One of the most unique elements of Sphere is the sheer size of the building and yet the relationship with the audience still feels intimate in many ways,” U2 bassist Adam Clayton says, while describing the immersive grandeur of the Las Vegas venue. This sentiment has been echoed by members of all four groups who have performed at the innovative entertainment space that feels of the future yet encourages one to remain in the moment.

The fan experience can be breathtaking. The music coming off the stage is often augmented by the gasps of concertgoers during certain astonishing sequences. Yet as Clayton suggests, despite the prodigious scale of the facility, it fosters personal engagement.

In 2024, U2, Phish, Dead & Company and the Eagles all performed at Sphere, with each group utilizing its advanced audio and visual capacities in different ways, as befitting their art and ethos.

Opportunities still remain to see these original bands in the venue. The Eagles’ run will continue into the spring, while Dead & Company’s second go-round will begin on March 20.

Folks who missed U2:VU can attend V-U2 directed by Morleigh Steinberg and The Edge, which is the first-ever concert film utilizing the high resolution camera system developed for Sphere. (A forthcoming book will offer additional perspective.) The members of Phish have expressed an interest in returning as well.

Josephine Vaccarello, Executive Vice President, Live, MSG Entertainment, who oversees live bookings for Sphere, indicates that there’s plenty more to come, as “We are booked through 2025 and working into 2026.”

She explains that the nature of appearing at Sphere requires ample lead time for debut performers, noting, “There’s a six-to-nine month process for the creative piece. It’s like setting up a tour to go around the world. You have to come up with your creative, your staging, your production, your content, and all that stuff has to be done in advance. This is the same thing, except you’re sitting down in Vegas in a venue.

“Our Sphere Studios team, who are the experts from content to sound within the venue, work with each of the artist teams in advance to make sure that they understand what the venue can do and what is the best way to do it. So there is a lot of involvement months in advance to make sure that everybody is comfortable. But while we definitely are the experts from the technology perspective, it’s the band’s decision as to what they want to put forward and the journey that they want to take their fans on.”

The following images and captions suggest that journey can be boundless.

As Vaccarello quite accurately observes, “It’s a completely different experience than anything anyone has done before. It’s not like seeing another concert anywhere else. It is different. It’s more.

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Dead & Company: The show is called “Dead Forever” because we wanted to offer an inter dimensional optimism that somewhere, somehow, this is all just getting started. (photo: Jay Blakesberg)

Dead & Company: This is sensory hijacking. It’s like duetting with a robot. This was a wonderful re-experience from Cornell in ‘77. (Photo: Chloe Weir)

Dead & Company: The visuals add another layer to the story we tell from the stage. And there’s no other place to tell our story like this. You can’t get this anywhere else right now. (Photo: Chloe Weir)

Don Henley: The Sphere… bringing the Great Outdoors indoors. (Photo courtesy of Eagles)

Don Henley: So much work and so many components that go into a concert…band, crew, equipment…the setting up, the tearing down, and setting up, again. We appreciate our loyal road family. (Photo courtesy of Eagles)