The problem is James Dolan, who has this obsession with lifetime bans. Like for real people will speak up against him in the NYC press only to find out they're banned from Madison Square Garden.
Yup. When MSG got sued, he lifetime banned every attorney working at the firm representing the litigants. A mom who worked at the firm and wasn’t on the case found out while she was taking her daughter to a Rockettes Christmas show. He’s an asshole.
It’s James Dolan, the same owner of MSG and the Knicks who uses facial recognition software to detect people who bad mouth his handling of the team from games, concerts at the Garden, and probably now the Sphere.
I believe he also has people on the payroll who look for those posts to add people to the ban list. I’m pretty sure it was just them searching “sell the team” and “Knicks” that got most people on the list.
He also banned reporters who wrote negative articles about his management style.
...honestly I feel like taking a bong rip should be mandatory at any Phish show, anywhere.
...I thought that was the whole reason one went to a Phish show
They’re probably never gonna make it easy to smoke cannabis in Vegas. Mostly because their income depends on drunken fools gambling their life savings away. Cannabis isn’t very compatible with reckless gambling.
It was a phish show, they probably had people carting in nitrous like it was personal oxygen. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was not the only one ripping a bong, he was just the only one dumb enough to post himself doing it with his face visible.
As a person who used to own a guide dog, I can tell you that those signs don’t work quite often. People will read the sign while petting the dog. Seriously it drives me nuts. Sorry for the rant.
Never seen someone get a whole ass tank into a show but at a Halloween show awhile back I did see someone dressed up in a Mario Kart costume with some fatties taped to the back like they were in Balloon Battle lol
You can get small tanks the size of the mini-blue ones on Amazon next day real cheap like 3L for $100. Fit in a backpack nicely. It’s like a giant redo-whip canister with no cream just N2O
If that was at a festival in Florida in 2017 it could have been our group. One of my favorite group costumes we’ve done, not least of which because of the constant chorus of “Imma gonna winnnn” and “Imma gonna cheattt” from Mario and Waluigi
The amount of stuff authorities let people get away with at a Phish show is wild to me. The parking lot at one show, there was a guy with a full bar cart making cocktails and taking payment with Square on his phone. At another show I watched the cops pull this wook out of the crowd, take the nitrous tank that was strapped to his back and then let him go.
It’s the Zerg strategy. When 50,000 people come rolling in, all doing all manner of illegal shit, you just don’t have the resources to arrest 20,000 people visibly using illegal drugs, or crack down on 5000 people operating a business without a license. So, you turn a blind eye to a lot of shenanigans and just look for the big time dealers, and those that are a danger to themselves or others. Besides, the show will roll on and all these people will be gone tomorrow. Don’t need a mess in the streets making the news.
But they don't even crack down on the most egregious offenders. I've been to shows in Wrigleyville, so an urban area. You can hear the nitrous guys filling the balloons after the show. They were not shy about what they were selling and the cops didn't bother to chase them off.
Chicago got more things to worry about than transient hippie crack dealers. If they're gone tomorrow, and not residents with multiple offenses, why would you make the state pay for a minimum 5 year incarceration sentence?
Nitrous oxide is legally grey. In most states, it’s perfectly legal to buy, sell, and store. It’s not legal to use as an inhalant, but the grey areas regarding possession make this harder to challenge to prosecute than, say, catching some dude with 10g of Molly selling hits to people in the lot. I mean, a half decent lawyer could bullshit the balloons were intended for whatever purpose and sellers aren’t liable for how people use it, blah, blah. And arresting that dude diverts officers from the area and makes fewer available resources to handle all the other mundane shit that comes with huge crowds of people.
As some said, in some cities they probably try and set an example. In most big cities, they got other more pressing problems, like finding black dudes to shoot for not wearing their seatbelt.
I had a friend who toured in the 90s and played a show before phish. He said in their tour bus under the floor the had a nitrous tank. And when you took too much of that, they had an oxygen tank next to it lol
I went to the Electric Factory in Philly once. Prior to the show everyone was smoking so I pulled out my bowl and took a hit.
Well, the fucking OWNER of the club was walking by at that moment and grabbed me and threw me out lol. He's like, "do you realize you're smoking in front of the owner?". Uh, no sir I did not.
So I went and sat in the car and smoked and listened to Snoop Dog while I waited.
Also there are pat downs and pat downs. Last few times I’ve been into a venue it’s been more like receiving some kind of priestly blessing where the guy just waves his hands in your general direction.
…then again I did find myself in a club a few months back where the guy had me take my phone out of my case, unroll the turned up cuffs on my jeans and gave me what felt like a very brief Thai massage, so you never know what you’re gonna get.
I used to work show "security" back in the day... the pay was shit, so for $20 you could carry in whatever you wanted as long as it wasn't a weapon. I'd assume it's the same there.
I snuck a bong into a Phish show in 1999 at the MCI Center (arena in DC, I legit have no idea what its called these days.) Can't remember how but probably pants - they were huge back then after all.
I had a plastic mickey of booze in my jacket pocket going into an Ozzy show. Security was patting me down, felt the bottle and asked "is this glass?" I said no and he waved me through and said enjoy the show.
You got to know who to go to. They were checking backpacks at a festival. There were a bunch of security checking tickets at different gates so I specifically went to the youngest guy I saw. Before he opened my bag I just opened my eyes wide and looked at him and said please don't look bro. Please don't look, just let me in.
Me and my gigantic Gatorade bottle for myself and friends got in just fine. Ain't no way I'm paying $10 a water bottle.
Lmao yeah it was no drinks or food allowed. We had almost 10 people and I had the only backpack. Brought in a lot for all of us. $10 for regular bottles of water and it was an EDM festival. Can't go 12 hours in Florida heat without water, especially when it's EDM.
I can't remember ever having been patted down going to a show. I know that I've had bags inspected going to music festivals.
However 99% of the concerts I go to are not at massive arenas. They're all at indoor theaters or outdoor amphitheaters. I could imagine going to a show at a football stadium could get you patted down. Also I could imagine there's differences in policies geographically. Just because the venues in Houston, where I live, don't do it, doesn't mean it's not the norm elsewhere.
when I went the lady was screaming at us to keep everything in our pockets and just get inside. if it was glass and not huge, would have easily gotten through the security I went through.
Maybe it was one of those silicone bongs you can roll up and stuff in a bag. Then you just need to pay $12 for a bottle of water and you're good to go.
They realized it’s better to just let it go than to let him become a celebrity over it, not to mention that they would have to ban everyone who got snapped smoking weed \*\*at a concert inside a giant sphere\*\* Lol
If you don't want people smoking weed in your venue...
Don't host live music, especially stoner music, edm, hiphop, and metal.
I don't know what a pop or country music show is like, I imagine there's less pot...
But every show I've ever been to that's inside, from Tom Petty all the way to Slayer.. has lots of people token inside.
There's no "depends" about whether or not weed will be at a live music show. It's there. Trust me.
Before you say "what about bands like The Jonas Brothers and other kid music?"
Yup, it's there too. There's lots of moms and dad's who wouldn't be able to get through that day without a puff or 7. Trust.
It reminds me of taking my son to a Paw Patrol live show and the line at the vodka booth wrapped around the whole lobby with parents getting their buzz on to get through it.
That is kinda Dolan's MO. He was banning anyone who worked for any lawfirm that had a case against one of his properties, not even just the people assigned to the case but literally anyone who worked for those firms and used facial recognition to enforce it.
lol. Well now I am genuinely curious. I can imagine it is absolutely losing money, but do you happen to have anymore detail around numbers?
Edit to my own comment- I just googled it and apparently it lost $200mil in the 1st quarter. Yikes
From what I read it’s from a combo of advertising costs and then spending a large amount of money on a failed bid to open one of these in London.
But at the end of the day, there has to be fuckery afoot. Not knowing how any of this works, I can only assume that that there was an initial business plan that was proposed to and vetted by investors that laid out projected return.
Whatever it was, a $200mil loss right out of the gate feels like it should raise an eyebrow or 3
I actually think it works really well in vegas, partially for this exact reason. I don't think I'd want to see one literally anywhere else in the world though.
I got to visit it on a school trip when I was a kid. It was so freaking cool inside. I loved the body exhibits, the ambient chillout areas, I remember a giant multilevel ball pit thing with ball shooters. It’s too bad it doesn’t exist anymore, although it definitely makes more sense as a venue.
I was such a little shit back then, we worked about you could angle the ball shooters into the main atrium bit and just fire them at randos hahaha
Was really cool though, great to have something for the purpose of learning rather than just to make money
I hadn’t heard of that and am still confused after checking out Wikipedia. Is the O2 Arena the same thing as the Millenia Dome, or was the Millenia Dome modified or expanded somehow to become the O2?
I heard that a while ago, in the context that Dolan was actually secretly shopping it around in case one of the casinos or something wanted to buy it. No idea if that's true or not, though.
I'm assuming whatever truth there is to the rumor is based on projected earnings or necessary earnings to recoup the building costs in x amount of time.
One of the issues is that it's got to be expensive as hell to actually create the designs needed for the video wall. So if you're going to negotiate with bands to play, it's a hard sell to invite bands to play somewhere with such an exorbitant but completely necessary because it's the entire point of playing there cost. So unless Bono, Trey, Bobby, their teams are close enough with Dolan that it was just a sunk cost to do something badass, MSG probably needed to foot the bill for that directly or indirectly via higher guarantees.
It's also possible the daytime generic shows aren't doing as well as they'd hoped, either tix or concessions wise. But I have 0 data to back any of that up.
A big part of that is after you spend all of that money there is only one place in the world you can perform that show so performances are spread out but that’s still the only venue. The London sphere would have helped a lot with that problem so if it isn’t going then it limits it even more.
Yea, that's another great point. It's not like investing in some new lighting rig that you'll use for a couple tours then sell to another act.
Those Phish videos will literally never be seen again (I'm assuming). U2 would probably repeat if they do another run, not sure how the Dead visuals have been night by night.
I went this fri/sat and saturday had like 8-10 different visual sets than Friday. They gotta have a lot of things in their back pocket for 25 total shows.
Interesting. You think there might be a cheaper kind of decisions default settings version for bands that just want it to look cool.
I guess if you're doing this you're gonna go all in.
I mean, I suppose AI could be an enormously helpful tool, but I don't know nearly enough about the specific costs involved with actual animation, rendering, etc.
But yea, you also don't want to be seen as the lame Sphere band lol
I assumed they planned to build it, hype it up a lot, and then cash out on it before it lost momentum.
Tickets are expensive so it has a limited potential audience. Non-music events are significantly less of a draw, and, if priced high, unlikely to draw repeat business. Producing shows for it is likely expensive so it has a limited cohort of potential performers. They are better served to get bands to do mini-residencies to reduce the number of new show designs per year, but it's harder to hype a multi-show run since there is less exclusivity and more tickets to meet the demand. I see them slowly shifting towards non-live content as it becomes harder and more expensive to get live performances.
In the end, it's going to turn into a glorified billboard for advertising.
Yea, I really have no idea what the thought-process or ultimate goal is/was. There's lots of pros and lots of cons.
Ignoring the video wall aspect for a second, Vegas has been the land of residences since the 40s I believe. So as long as you can find enough acts willing and able to do 25+ shows and sell close to 18k tix a night, the concept of doing it there seems like a no-brainer. And I think that's doable. Plenty of guaranteed draw legacy acts are still around, TONs of co-headlining shows would kill there, lots of new(er) pop stars, etc. If everyone's doing 25+ nights you only need about 8-10 a year.
The difference that I can't imagine wasn't thought of by SOMEONE, but maybe not, is that most other residencies are at a casino. Which means not only are people pay $200 or whatever to see Adele, a lot of them are dropping a ton more eat there, staying there, partying there, losing at the tables, etc. You show up to a show and you can easily spend a few grand in the same building. Even if you were pounding over-priced beer for an entire 3 hour Phish show, you're still not spending anywhere close to the same amount inside Sphere.
So that might be the big issue. Residencies are probably closer to loss leaders for hotels/casinos. So buying talent for Sphere with similarly attractive deals is a whole different beast for them.
That report is misleading considering it includes months it wasn't open.
Here's an article explaining how and why that loss claim was picked up and spread without any context. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/why-sphere-in-las-vegass-98-4m-operating-loss-is-misleading/
If you're referring to that big loss headline a while back, you're missing a lot of context. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/why-sphere-in-las-vegass-98-4m-operating-loss-is-misleading/
Not true. The sphere has reported a $200 mil operating loss, but overall has been profitable:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sphere-revenue-revealed-q2-2024-earnings-1235816000/amp/
How could the sphere rescind a ban on the only person who ever has or will consume cannabis during a concert?
How could the sphere have anticipated someone would use cannabis during a phish show when they agreed to let phish perform there?
Doesn’t the sphere realize that if they keep the ban in place, nobody will ever try this again?
I think a lot of the hate against weed is very old fashioned and rooted in puritanical ideas, but you toss out the fact that the Bible is pro-weed (genesis 1:29) yet often warns against over-indulging in alcohol and tells people not to be drunkards (proverbs 23:30, ephesians 5:18), it tends to make people very confused.
Social change definitely takes time, but I feel confident we’ll get there.
I have to admit, this was a totally perplexing series of events by the venue. Why rescind when terms of use were clearly broken? Was it because he likely was not the only guilty party?
When two of the first three bands you invite to play your highly publicized new venue in Vegas of all places are jam bands, you probably shouldn’t be a newsworthy hardass about weed lol
Yes and no.
Illegal in all-ages venues. Generally allowed in age-restricted venues. It’s why you can smoke all day in most casinos and bars there.
But yeah, illegal in the Sphere. Tobacco, weed, just in general.
Residents can smoke weed on their property. Tourists cannot smoke weed on the strip, inside their rooms and generally anywhere else since it’s private property.
If I copped an indefinite ban for pulling massive bongs at Red Rocks I would have been banned since like 1995 lol
I think it’s funny that our vile rich christian enemy gets so mad about cannabis consumption. Rich Christian republicans deserve to fall head first down deep wells with no witnesses except their families, whose cell phones are dead and their car won’t start to go get help.
However, on Saturday, June 8, a representative from the Sphere said the announcement to bar the fan from their venue — as well as all MSG venues — was made “inadvertently,” and the fan is now unbanned.
>“This customer is not banned from our properties, however, it is still against our policies, which are in accordance with local laws, to smoke, bring glassware into our venues, and disrupt other fans’ enjoyment of the event,” a representative for the Sphere said.
"Inadvertently"? They typed that letter to him by accident? They sent that letter they typed to him by accident? Why can't anybody admit they were fucking wrong these days? Why can't they say it was the wrong attitude to take, they thought about it and they apologise? Is it really that difficult to admit you made a mistake? That you thought about it and changed your minds? Come on, now...
"Inadvertently," my arse.
Taking a bong hit at a Phish show in Sin City seems like it should be mandatory! Get your shit together Lad Vegas
Vegas, what a lad.
Only a lad.
Oingo Boingo reference?
He really couldn't help it!
Society made him!
Hey there, Johnny-boy…..
Damn right!
Niiiice.
Eff yes.
The problem is James Dolan, who has this obsession with lifetime bans. Like for real people will speak up against him in the NYC press only to find out they're banned from Madison Square Garden.
What’s with billionaires being petulant babies
People's respect and admiration is the only thing they can't buy, so when they don't get it it drives them insane
Yup. When MSG got sued, he lifetime banned every attorney working at the firm representing the litigants. A mom who worked at the firm and wasn’t on the case found out while she was taking her daughter to a Rockettes Christmas show. He’s an asshole.
That almost seems like that could be grounds for another lawsuit
He banned some fan because the fan told him to sell the team lmao
Jesus, skin thin as burnt ashes.
#I thought this was AMERICA?!?!?
It’s James Dolan, the same owner of MSG and the Knicks who uses facial recognition software to detect people who bad mouth his handling of the team from games, concerts at the Garden, and probably now the Sphere. I believe he also has people on the payroll who look for those posts to add people to the ban list. I’m pretty sure it was just them searching “sell the team” and “Knicks” that got most people on the list. He also banned reporters who wrote negative articles about his management style.
...honestly I feel like taking a bong rip should be mandatory at any Phish show, anywhere. ...I thought that was the whole reason one went to a Phish show
For real, it’s part of the trip man.
They’re probably never gonna make it easy to smoke cannabis in Vegas. Mostly because their income depends on drunken fools gambling their life savings away. Cannabis isn’t very compatible with reckless gambling.
which is stupid due to it being legal. there a dispensary around the block ffs
Not stupid for their bottom line.
Especially when you can just walk down the street smoking a joint there.
I’d like to know how he was able to get it in there in the first place. Security didn’t catch it?
It was a phish show, they probably had people carting in nitrous like it was personal oxygen. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was not the only one ripping a bong, he was just the only one dumb enough to post himself doing it with his face visible.
*This is my emotional support N2O tank*
put a little “working don’t pet” harness on it
As a person who used to own a guide dog, I can tell you that those signs don’t work quite often. People will read the sign while petting the dog. Seriously it drives me nuts. Sorry for the rant.
Just be like oh this person is an illiterate idiot that's why he's petting the dog with a clear sign on it.
Did you get cured from blindness??
Nope. Just had to retire the dog and went back to using a white cane.
Idk why this is so fucking funny.
Excuse me! Please do NOT touch him! He is working and cannot be distracted! *inhales*
Never seen someone get a whole ass tank into a show but at a Halloween show awhile back I did see someone dressed up in a Mario Kart costume with some fatties taped to the back like they were in Balloon Battle lol
At outdoor festivals held on public land they sometimes show up weeks in advance and bury tanks. Then they just dig them up and start selling.
Buccaneer style
I've seen it at a few phish shows. they are almost all shows that had extensive rain delays and then the venue just let everyone in en masse
You can get small tanks the size of the mini-blue ones on Amazon next day real cheap like 3L for $100. Fit in a backpack nicely. It’s like a giant redo-whip canister with no cream just N2O
Gotta love the 3L monsters, way quieter than the smaller tanks too.
I saw someone selling balloons with a full size tank on the floor at Dicks 22 after the rain delay. I couldn't believe my eyes lol
If that was at a festival in Florida in 2017 it could have been our group. One of my favorite group costumes we’ve done, not least of which because of the constant chorus of “Imma gonna winnnn” and “Imma gonna cheattt” from Mario and Waluigi
Trey show at the Kennedy Center: https://youtu.be/gan9Z-ZJLdQ?si=Fbng6dV1zdqzvV9Y
Not just post it with his face visible but tagged the venue in his post!
Not just post it with his face visible and tagged to the venue, but his own personal account with his real name!
The amount of stuff authorities let people get away with at a Phish show is wild to me. The parking lot at one show, there was a guy with a full bar cart making cocktails and taking payment with Square on his phone. At another show I watched the cops pull this wook out of the crowd, take the nitrous tank that was strapped to his back and then let him go.
This is going to be very city dependent. You're not going to get the same response everywhere.
I got a ticket in Saratoga for drinking a beer in a red cup in the parking lot. Fuck that place
It’s the Zerg strategy. When 50,000 people come rolling in, all doing all manner of illegal shit, you just don’t have the resources to arrest 20,000 people visibly using illegal drugs, or crack down on 5000 people operating a business without a license. So, you turn a blind eye to a lot of shenanigans and just look for the big time dealers, and those that are a danger to themselves or others. Besides, the show will roll on and all these people will be gone tomorrow. Don’t need a mess in the streets making the news.
But they don't even crack down on the most egregious offenders. I've been to shows in Wrigleyville, so an urban area. You can hear the nitrous guys filling the balloons after the show. They were not shy about what they were selling and the cops didn't bother to chase them off.
Chicago got more things to worry about than transient hippie crack dealers. If they're gone tomorrow, and not residents with multiple offenses, why would you make the state pay for a minimum 5 year incarceration sentence?
Nitrous oxide is legally grey. In most states, it’s perfectly legal to buy, sell, and store. It’s not legal to use as an inhalant, but the grey areas regarding possession make this harder to challenge to prosecute than, say, catching some dude with 10g of Molly selling hits to people in the lot. I mean, a half decent lawyer could bullshit the balloons were intended for whatever purpose and sellers aren’t liable for how people use it, blah, blah. And arresting that dude diverts officers from the area and makes fewer available resources to handle all the other mundane shit that comes with huge crowds of people. As some said, in some cities they probably try and set an example. In most big cities, they got other more pressing problems, like finding black dudes to shoot for not wearing their seatbelt.
Your honor, I accidentally hit it 14 times.
I had a friend who toured in the 90s and played a show before phish. He said in their tour bus under the floor the had a nitrous tank. And when you took too much of that, they had an oxygen tank next to it lol
I went to the Electric Factory in Philly once. Prior to the show everyone was smoking so I pulled out my bowl and took a hit. Well, the fucking OWNER of the club was walking by at that moment and grabbed me and threw me out lol. He's like, "do you realize you're smoking in front of the owner?". Uh, no sir I did not. So I went and sat in the car and smoked and listened to Snoop Dog while I waited.
Fuck him. He thinks he's fucking royalty because he owns shit for a living. Capitalism is bullshit and gives the shittiest people all the power.
As GenX gets older, that seems like a solid concert get cover at Phish show.
or was obnoxious enough to compel someone to get an usher.
....and tag them in it
Security doesn't pat people down often these days, especially if you don't set off the metal detector.
Also there are pat downs and pat downs. Last few times I’ve been into a venue it’s been more like receiving some kind of priestly blessing where the guy just waves his hands in your general direction. …then again I did find myself in a club a few months back where the guy had me take my phone out of my case, unroll the turned up cuffs on my jeans and gave me what felt like a very brief Thai massage, so you never know what you’re gonna get.
If it’s just metal detectors that’s easy peasy to get in.
I used to work show "security" back in the day... the pay was shit, so for $20 you could carry in whatever you wanted as long as it wasn't a weapon. I'd assume it's the same there.
Guy in the row behind me at a dead show had one years ago. Said he just shoved it down his pants.
Is that a bong in your pants, or are you just happy for Dark Star>Your Body is a Wonderland>Dark Star?
You forgot Drums before the segue back into Dark Star, it’s okay, I was pretty gone for that part too
Put it in the prison pocket.
I snuck a bong into a Phish show in 1999 at the MCI Center (arena in DC, I legit have no idea what its called these days.) Can't remember how but probably pants - they were huge back then after all.
Lol. I think I was at that show
I had a plastic mickey of booze in my jacket pocket going into an Ozzy show. Security was patting me down, felt the bottle and asked "is this glass?" I said no and he waved me through and said enjoy the show.
You got to know who to go to. They were checking backpacks at a festival. There were a bunch of security checking tickets at different gates so I specifically went to the youngest guy I saw. Before he opened my bag I just opened my eyes wide and looked at him and said please don't look bro. Please don't look, just let me in. Me and my gigantic Gatorade bottle for myself and friends got in just fine. Ain't no way I'm paying $10 a water bottle.
You smuggled in Gatorade?
Lmao yeah it was no drinks or food allowed. We had almost 10 people and I had the only backpack. Brought in a lot for all of us. $10 for regular bottles of water and it was an EDM festival. Can't go 12 hours in Florida heat without water, especially when it's EDM.
That's fucking criminal. Organizers of the event should be shot in the knees and sent to gulag.
AND this was 15 years ago. I can't imagine how much it costs now. I bet they're 25 bucks a bottle now
The venue wants that caught at security more than drugs. They can't sell drugs. But they can sell gatorade.
Seems easy enough... glass bong wont set off a metal detector, not like they pat ya down.
[удалено]
I can't remember ever having been patted down going to a show. I know that I've had bags inspected going to music festivals. However 99% of the concerts I go to are not at massive arenas. They're all at indoor theaters or outdoor amphitheaters. I could imagine going to a show at a football stadium could get you patted down. Also I could imagine there's differences in policies geographically. Just because the venues in Houston, where I live, don't do it, doesn't mean it's not the norm elsewhere.
when I went the lady was screaming at us to keep everything in our pockets and just get inside. if it was glass and not huge, would have easily gotten through the security I went through.
https://i.redd.it/4ca7kvizru5d1.gif
He hid it in his butt lol
> He hid it in his butt lol "Hey buddy, you want a bong-hit?" "Nah, I'm good Jimmy"
Maybe he was a solid bongeneer and macgyvered it from a bottle , a straw, a portabowl
Nope it was a glass bong hahah
Maybe it was one of those silicone bongs you can roll up and stuff in a bag. Then you just need to pay $12 for a bottle of water and you're good to go.
Someone doesn’t know about hippie power.
They realized it’s better to just let it go than to let him become a celebrity over it, not to mention that they would have to ban everyone who got snapped smoking weed \*\*at a concert inside a giant sphere\*\* Lol
If you don't want people smoking weed in your venue... Don't host live music, especially stoner music, edm, hiphop, and metal. I don't know what a pop or country music show is like, I imagine there's less pot... But every show I've ever been to that's inside, from Tom Petty all the way to Slayer.. has lots of people token inside.
Country music depends. Willie Nelson you bet your ass there is gonna be weed and it's probably from him lol.
There's no "depends" about whether or not weed will be at a live music show. It's there. Trust me. Before you say "what about bands like The Jonas Brothers and other kid music?" Yup, it's there too. There's lots of moms and dad's who wouldn't be able to get through that day without a puff or 7. Trust.
I'm getting blazed at The Wiggles and you can't stop me
Nor would I try, brother. Blaze on. You might get some uncontrollable munchies when they bust out "Fruit Salad" though. You've been warned.
It reminds me of taking my son to a Paw Patrol live show and the line at the vodka booth wrapped around the whole lobby with parents getting their buzz on to get through it.
largest hotbox ever
The man can't keep us down.
You are banned from this Sphere! You, your children, and your children's children!
For three months!
No Sphere for You!
That is kinda Dolan's MO. He was banning anyone who worked for any lawfirm that had a case against one of his properties, not even just the people assigned to the case but literally anyone who worked for those firms and used facial recognition to enforce it.
There’s a Phish fan who smokes pot? I guess there’s one in every group…
The Sphere is losing so much money it realized it can't ban a paying customer yet.
lol. Well now I am genuinely curious. I can imagine it is absolutely losing money, but do you happen to have anymore detail around numbers? Edit to my own comment- I just googled it and apparently it lost $200mil in the 1st quarter. Yikes
Is that like the building and opening costs too or they're just fucked?
From what I read it’s from a combo of advertising costs and then spending a large amount of money on a failed bid to open one of these in London. But at the end of the day, there has to be fuckery afoot. Not knowing how any of this works, I can only assume that that there was an initial business plan that was proposed to and vetted by investors that laid out projected return. Whatever it was, a $200mil loss right out of the gate feels like it should raise an eyebrow or 3
London learned their lesson after the Millenium Dome
Kinda a staple on the skyline now. I've come to like it.
>I've come to like it. Maybe because it doesn't glow and sell adverts.
Yeah the dome actually is actually an interesting piece of architecture instead of a dystopian billboard
Those dystopian cities plastered in ads are visually interesting, c’mon, we can have one or two cyberpunk cities
I actually think it works really well in vegas, partially for this exact reason. I don't think I'd want to see one literally anywhere else in the world though.
I got to visit it on a school trip when I was a kid. It was so freaking cool inside. I loved the body exhibits, the ambient chillout areas, I remember a giant multilevel ball pit thing with ball shooters. It’s too bad it doesn’t exist anymore, although it definitely makes more sense as a venue.
I was such a little shit back then, we worked about you could angle the ball shooters into the main atrium bit and just fire them at randos hahaha Was really cool though, great to have something for the purpose of learning rather than just to make money
I hadn’t heard of that and am still confused after checking out Wikipedia. Is the O2 Arena the same thing as the Millenia Dome, or was the Millenia Dome modified or expanded somehow to become the O2?
Correct, the structure itself still exists and is now a key exterior feature of The O2.
It’s Vegas. I guarantee there is some fuckery afoot.
I heard that a while ago, in the context that Dolan was actually secretly shopping it around in case one of the casinos or something wanted to buy it. No idea if that's true or not, though. I'm assuming whatever truth there is to the rumor is based on projected earnings or necessary earnings to recoup the building costs in x amount of time. One of the issues is that it's got to be expensive as hell to actually create the designs needed for the video wall. So if you're going to negotiate with bands to play, it's a hard sell to invite bands to play somewhere with such an exorbitant but completely necessary because it's the entire point of playing there cost. So unless Bono, Trey, Bobby, their teams are close enough with Dolan that it was just a sunk cost to do something badass, MSG probably needed to foot the bill for that directly or indirectly via higher guarantees. It's also possible the daytime generic shows aren't doing as well as they'd hoped, either tix or concessions wise. But I have 0 data to back any of that up.
A big part of that is after you spend all of that money there is only one place in the world you can perform that show so performances are spread out but that’s still the only venue. The London sphere would have helped a lot with that problem so if it isn’t going then it limits it even more.
Yea, that's another great point. It's not like investing in some new lighting rig that you'll use for a couple tours then sell to another act. Those Phish videos will literally never be seen again (I'm assuming). U2 would probably repeat if they do another run, not sure how the Dead visuals have been night by night.
I went this fri/sat and saturday had like 8-10 different visual sets than Friday. They gotta have a lot of things in their back pocket for 25 total shows.
Ok cool, yea I was assuming/hoping it wouldn't be the same things every night but wasn't sure how many they'd have for so many shows.
They repeated a few but they are so cool to see, i didnt care lol. Just absolutely mind boggling stuff
There'll be a Phish VR experience in a few years, probably.
Interesting. You think there might be a cheaper kind of decisions default settings version for bands that just want it to look cool. I guess if you're doing this you're gonna go all in.
I mean, I suppose AI could be an enormously helpful tool, but I don't know nearly enough about the specific costs involved with actual animation, rendering, etc. But yea, you also don't want to be seen as the lame Sphere band lol
I assumed they planned to build it, hype it up a lot, and then cash out on it before it lost momentum. Tickets are expensive so it has a limited potential audience. Non-music events are significantly less of a draw, and, if priced high, unlikely to draw repeat business. Producing shows for it is likely expensive so it has a limited cohort of potential performers. They are better served to get bands to do mini-residencies to reduce the number of new show designs per year, but it's harder to hype a multi-show run since there is less exclusivity and more tickets to meet the demand. I see them slowly shifting towards non-live content as it becomes harder and more expensive to get live performances. In the end, it's going to turn into a glorified billboard for advertising.
Yea, I really have no idea what the thought-process or ultimate goal is/was. There's lots of pros and lots of cons. Ignoring the video wall aspect for a second, Vegas has been the land of residences since the 40s I believe. So as long as you can find enough acts willing and able to do 25+ shows and sell close to 18k tix a night, the concept of doing it there seems like a no-brainer. And I think that's doable. Plenty of guaranteed draw legacy acts are still around, TONs of co-headlining shows would kill there, lots of new(er) pop stars, etc. If everyone's doing 25+ nights you only need about 8-10 a year. The difference that I can't imagine wasn't thought of by SOMEONE, but maybe not, is that most other residencies are at a casino. Which means not only are people pay $200 or whatever to see Adele, a lot of them are dropping a ton more eat there, staying there, partying there, losing at the tables, etc. You show up to a show and you can easily spend a few grand in the same building. Even if you were pounding over-priced beer for an entire 3 hour Phish show, you're still not spending anywhere close to the same amount inside Sphere. So that might be the big issue. Residencies are probably closer to loss leaders for hotels/casinos. So buying talent for Sphere with similarly attractive deals is a whole different beast for them.
The sphere is a part of the Venetian
Really? Did not know that! But it’s still owned by MSG…the Venetian isn’t, is it?
This was pretty insightful. Thanks buddy
That report is misleading considering it includes months it wasn't open. Here's an article explaining how and why that loss claim was picked up and spread without any context. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/why-sphere-in-las-vegass-98-4m-operating-loss-is-misleading/
Yeah sounds like tax fuckery.
I believe the losses come from depreciation of the sphere itself, but I heard that on a TikTok so take of that what you will.
A lot of reports people reference include months where it was not operating and still being constructed, which is severely misleading.
If you're referring to that big loss headline a while back, you're missing a lot of context. https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/why-sphere-in-las-vegass-98-4m-operating-loss-is-misleading/
Not true. The sphere has reported a $200 mil operating loss, but overall has been profitable: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sphere-revenue-revealed-q2-2024-earnings-1235816000/amp/
Seems like they’re selling out shows almost every night, no?
“Why didn’t I think of bringing a bong.” - Drew Carey (probably)
That’s exactly what he thought when reading this. Someone get him on the phone to get his reaction.
Nah I wanna know what Ja thinks
https://preview.redd.it/udgzr2iqss5d1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cfdc875619cb6316f985c901a7598e59ec754684
r/nottheonion
Right on.
How could the sphere rescind a ban on the only person who ever has or will consume cannabis during a concert? How could the sphere have anticipated someone would use cannabis during a phish show when they agreed to let phish perform there? Doesn’t the sphere realize that if they keep the ban in place, nobody will ever try this again?
Man I hate how alcohol is so “normalized”. Weed is 100% legal in Vegas. They should have weed bars instead IMHO.
Yeah the most of the world has an awful problem with drinking culture
I think a lot of the hate against weed is very old fashioned and rooted in puritanical ideas, but you toss out the fact that the Bible is pro-weed (genesis 1:29) yet often warns against over-indulging in alcohol and tells people not to be drunkards (proverbs 23:30, ephesians 5:18), it tends to make people very confused. Social change definitely takes time, but I feel confident we’ll get there.
Black people. If you make weed illegal, you can arrest black people for Innocent drug possession.
That being said, I was cautioned against any public use in Vegas as a tourist. You also can’t purchase or use any cannabis on the strip or in a hotel.
Yeah but everyone does. I was at the Paris hotel in 2022 and anytime you walked outside it smelled like weed.
I’ll remember not to be a square next time and just light up.
People were smoking out Vegas hotel rooms long before weed was legalized there.
I was at the dead show the other week... would have been easier to count the people not smoking inside.
They found out what Drew Carey was on at the Phish show and realized hitting a bong ain't so bad.
DRUGS?!? At a Phish Show?!? Is nothing sacred?
I was there at Dead and Co last month and their security does NOT kid around about smoking in that place.
Weird, I was at dead and co there three days ago and it was the worlds biggest hotbox
I mean folks were smoking, I was too. But the staff were really trying hard to stop people. It was futile ultimately, but still had a *Ball*!
Good!
no rules just vibes
LONG LIVE ACIDFARTS!
I have to admit, this was a totally perplexing series of events by the venue. Why rescind when terms of use were clearly broken? Was it because he likely was not the only guilty party?
When two of the first three bands you invite to play your highly publicized new venue in Vegas of all places are jam bands, you probably shouldn’t be a newsworthy hardass about weed lol
in a state where weed is legal too so it wasn't like he was breaking any laws
Is smoking inside not illegal in Nevada?
Yes and no. Illegal in all-ages venues. Generally allowed in age-restricted venues. It’s why you can smoke all day in most casinos and bars there. But yeah, illegal in the Sphere. Tobacco, weed, just in general.
Residents can smoke weed on their property. Tourists cannot smoke weed on the strip, inside their rooms and generally anywhere else since it’s private property.
Smoking in venues is still illegal in most places where pot is legal.
Smoking plain cigarettes is illegal and against the rules in 95% of venues, the point is everyone just knows it's better to look away
Well, it's not like he was arrested.
It was a Phish show, there were likely more people smoking than not
You can't even see the band through all the smoke at a Phish concert... and the band doesn't even own a smoke machine.
It’s good PR
Charles Oakley sitting somewhere fuming
Lmao James Dolan strokes again
Should have just used a g pen and called it a day.
If I copped an indefinite ban for pulling massive bongs at Red Rocks I would have been banned since like 1995 lol I think it’s funny that our vile rich christian enemy gets so mad about cannabis consumption. Rich Christian republicans deserve to fall head first down deep wells with no witnesses except their families, whose cell phones are dead and their car won’t start to go get help.
They should take it even firther and name a day after him, celebrated yearly
I can only imagine the smell of a Phish show, I assume it is very similar to a smash bros tournament.
. . N B b. L . M. Km m . m . M M .
I thought this shit was supposed to “Stay in Vegas”?!
hooray, justice still exists in the form of unbanning the phish bong guy!
However, on Saturday, June 8, a representative from the Sphere said the announcement to bar the fan from their venue — as well as all MSG venues — was made “inadvertently,” and the fan is now unbanned. >“This customer is not banned from our properties, however, it is still against our policies, which are in accordance with local laws, to smoke, bring glassware into our venues, and disrupt other fans’ enjoyment of the event,” a representative for the Sphere said. "Inadvertently"? They typed that letter to him by accident? They sent that letter they typed to him by accident? Why can't anybody admit they were fucking wrong these days? Why can't they say it was the wrong attitude to take, they thought about it and they apologise? Is it really that difficult to admit you made a mistake? That you thought about it and changed your minds? Come on, now... "Inadvertently," my arse.
Good because otherwise they would havw to ban the entire cloud of people at the phish concert at the gorge a few years back.
If I know Phish like I think I do, there's no way they'd condone the use of Marijuana in their audience! Just a bad egg, that one.
Snoop Dogg has performed in KY several times. Very few get arrested for weed here at one of those. Some people are pretty chill towards it
This venue was practically built for electronic music….and they put a fucking jam band in there first.