Here’s how Phish is using the Sphere's technology to give fans something completely different

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Phish opened its four-night stay at the Sphere Thursday with a four-hour show that used the advanced technology in the $2.3 billion arena to deliver a show that even the band's most ardent fans have never experienced before.

“We came in really wanting to do a show that was a great Phish show,” said Abigail Rosen Holmes, who is running the visual show. She said the band and its creative team wanted to mix the Sphere’s technical capabilities and consider “what can we do for Phish that we maybe couldn’t do for any other artist?”

Here’s how Phish is creating a set of shows that even fans who’ve seen the band perform hundreds of times won’t have experienced before.

While Phish shows usually get their visual punch from lighting guru Chris Kuroda’s massive lighting rig, these shows are completely different as the band uses custom visuals on the 160,000-square foot 16K-by-16K LED screen.

Three-dimensional blue bars moving and spinning in time and growing to meet beams of light falling from the ceiling. Live video of the band playing, cut into pieces. A wall of psychedelic-colored cars blinking their lights with a long improvisational jam. Easter eggs from Phish’s history — like the vacuum cleaner drummer Jon Fishman sometimes plays — falling from the ceiling. A naturescape that then morphs into a fantasy world.

Holmes sits in the center of the arena controlling the visuals in real-time, mixing the elements created with Montreal-based entertainment studio Moment Factory to match the band’s performance.

Kuroda sits beside her, using six light towers behind the stage plus spotlights to find the right moments to bring people back to the band on stage.

Toward the end of Thursday night’s show, Kuroda started to spotlight individual members of the band, sending a simple black silhouette onto the wall. The silhouette then burst into a reddened field of 20 silhouettes throughout the arena.

There are 1,600 permanent speakers, along with 300 mobile speaker modules, that use a 3D audio beamforming and wave field synthesis technology to spread sound throughout the venue. The system allows for individual instruments to be heard from different parts of the arena. “It’s like pinpoints of sound and thousands and thousands of them,” says Phish’s Trey Anastasio.

There are 17,500 seats inside the Sphere, every one of which will be filled with a Phish fan this week, along with about 2,500 standing on the floor. The seats use haptic technology, so every bass line and drum kick from the band can be felt from your chair — for those actually sitting and not standing up and dancing.

U2 performed 40 shows to open the Sphere. Phish sold out its four shows this week within minutes and considered doing more, but decided they wanted to create four unique visual and music experiences to match the band’s history of never repeating the same show twice.

“I don’t know that we could have done it any other way,” said Page McConnell, Phish’s piano/organ/keyboard player. “We do it for us. We do it for the audience. It keeps it interesting for us and it keeps it interesting for them. And it’s what people like about us.”

There are 1.2 million LED “pucks” that make up the 580,000-square feet exosphere, each of which can display more than 1 billion colors. The display has become an instant tourist attraction in Las Vegas, seen from hotel rooms around the Strip and from planes above. It cycles through various funky visuals, including a giant yellow blinking smiley face and a furry creature. This week it includes a digital billboard for Phish.

This image shows one of the individual screens at the Sphere and the hundreds of light nodes it contains on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. The screen at the Sphere is 160,000 square feet and shows images and video in 16K x 16K resolution. (AP Photo/Josh Cornfield)

This image shows the exterior of the Sphere on Thursday, April 18, in Las Vegas. The light displays on the exopshere are created with 1.2 million individual lights, each of which can show more than a billion colors. (AP Photo/Josh Cornfield)

The group Phish rehearses before the band's four night engagement at the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

The group Phish rehearses before the band's four night engagement at the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer-songwriter of the band Phish, rehearses before the group's four-night engagement at the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

The group Phish rehearses before the band's four night engagement at the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Abigail Rosen Holmes, show director and co-creative director for the band Phish's upcoming show at the Sphere, works in the control booth during rehearsals on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Abigail Rosen Holmes, show director and co-creative director for the band Phish's upcoming show at the Sphere, works in the control booth during rehearsals on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Page McConnell, keyboardist for the band Phish rehearses before the group's four night engagement at the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Wires run between sections of light on one of the individual screens behind the stage of the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Josh Cornfield)

Keyboardist Page McConnell, left, and Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer-songwriter of the band Phish, rehearse before the group's four-night engagement at the Sphere on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

The exterior of the Sphere is pictured on Friday, April 19, 2024, in Las Vegas. The band Phish started its four-night residency on Thursday. (AP Photo/Josh Cornfield)

Artists from Universal Music Group, which include Taylor Swift, Drake, Adele, Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish, will be returning to TikTok as the two parties have struck a new licensing agreement following an approximately three-month long dispute.

The two sides said Thursday that they are “now working expeditiously to return music by artists represented by Universal Music Group and songwriters represented by Universal Music Publishing Group to TikTok in due course.”

UMG said in January that it had not agreed to terms of a new deal with TikTok, and planned to stop licensing content from the artists it represents on the social media platform that is owned by ByteDance, as well as TikTok Music services.

At the time, UMG had been pressing TikTok on three issues: “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.”

TikTok pushed back against the claims by UMG, saying that it had reached ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher.

On Thursday the two sides announced that their new agreement would give significant benefits to UMG’s global stable of artists, songwriters and labels and would return their music to TikTok.

“Music is an integral part of the TikTok ecosystem and we are pleased to have found a path forward with Universal Music Group," TikTok CEO Shou Chew said in a statement. "We are committed to working together to drive value, discovery and promotion for all of UMG’s amazing artists and songwriters, and deepen their ability to grow, connect and engage with the TikTok community.”

Part of the new deal includes UMG and TikTok working together to find new monetization opportunities. They will also will work together on campaigns supporting UMG’s artists across genres and territories globally.

In addition, the companies will put their combined efforts toward ensuring that AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and payments for artists and songwriters. TikTok will also work with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as on tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution.

TikTok plans to continue investing in building artist-centric tools that will help UMG artists realize their potential on the platform. Some tools include “Add to Music App”, enhanced data and analytics, and integrated ticketing capabilities.

“We’re gratified to renew our relationship with TikTok predicated on significant advancements in commercial and marketing opportunities as well as protections provided to our industry-leading roster on their platform,” Michael Nash, chief digital officer and executive vice president, Universal Music Group, said in a statement.

While TikTok has settled its dispute with UMG, the future of the platform remains uncertain. Last month President Joe Biden signed legislation requiring TikTok parent ByteDance to sell to a U.S. owner within a year or to shut down. It’s not clear whether that law will survive an expected legal challenge or that ByteDance would agree to sell.

FILE - Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 9, 2023. Artists from Universal Music Group, which include Taylor Swift, Drake, Adele, Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish, will be returning to TikTok as the two parties have struck a new licensing agreement following an approximately three-month long dispute. The two sides said Thursday, May 2, 2024, that they are "now working expeditiously to return music by artists represented by Universal Music Group and songwriters represented by Universal Music Publishing Group to TikTok in due course." (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)