Ralph Larmann / Courtesy of Resorts World
Carrie Underwood made her Las Vegas debut with the premiere of REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency at Resorts World Las Vegas Wed. Dec. 1, 2021.
Friday, Feb. 16, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Two Las Vegas Strip venues have earned their way onto an esteemed music industry publication’s list of the top concert venues in the world.
Resorts World Theatre and the Sphere both are cited in Billboard’s 2024 Top Music Venues, which came out Tuesday on the publication’s website.
Billboard recognized Resorts World Theatre as the “Top Residency Venue” for the second consecutive year.
“Featuring 900 more seats than the neighboring Colosseum at Caesars Palace, the venue’s size and scale helped it land atop the Boxscore chart for venues under 5,000 capacity for the second year in a row. In 2023, Resorts World Theater grossed $45 million from 90 shows attended by 319,000 fans,” Billboard said.
The venue is a joint development between Resorts World Las Vegas and AEG Presents and is operated by Concerts West, a division of AEG Presents.
“We’re honored to have Resorts World Theatre recognized as Billboard’s ‘Top Residency Venue,’ ” said Bobby Reynolds, senior vice president, AEG Presents Las Vegas. “Since opening the venue at Resorts World Las Vegas in 2021, it has been our goal to present a lineup of unparalleled resident talents, producing unforgettable headlining productions with award-winning performers like Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. We look forward to the venue’s continued success and to bringing more incredible talent to the venue and the Las Vegas Strip.”
With the furthest seat in the theater 150 feet from the stage, the venue offers “an intimate and unique shared experience between the artist and the audience,” according to Resorts World, with “unparalleled comfort, unobstructed sightlines and unmatched room acoustics.”
U2 (Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton with Bram van den Berg) lit up the Sphere stage with a mind-blowing opening night of their highly-anticipated U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere shows, reinventing the live music experience with the launch of the world's most cutting-edge venue in Las Vegas, Saturday, September 30, 2023.
Billboard singled out the Sphere — the world’s largest spherical structure — for “The ‘Wow’ Factor” in its listings.
“Few venues have gained as much attention in a single year as MSG’s Sphere at the Venetian in Las Vegas, a $2 billion music venue built by MSG’s James Dolan. Made famous by its LED exosphere and fully immersive interior cinematic screens, Sphere’s opening run with U2 — a $100 million deal brokered in part by Live Nation’s Arthur Fogel and Brooklyn Bowl’s Peter Shapiro — will be followed by a four-night stand by Phish in April,” Billboard said.
In all, Billboard cited 26 venues around the globe in its listing, including New York’s Madison Square Garden, London’s O2 Arena, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver.
