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It is the concert venue set to transform live entertainment, a giant sphere that towers over the skyline and beams out bright images – an eye, a basketball, the moon – through a skin of thousands of LED screens.
On Friday, concert-goers were blown away at the opening of the $2.3 billion (£1.9 billion) Sphere in Las Vegas, with 18,000 packing into the world’s largest spherical structure to see U2 perform.
But a planned replica of the arena in Stratford, east London, is facing pushback from local residents who say the black-out blinds they have been offered by developers will not make up for the light-pollution and nuisance.
On Friday, Bono called the inventor of the Sphere, James Dolan, the US mogul, a “mad bastard” as 16,000 seamlessly-connected screens projected vast desert landscapes, swirling animals and kaleidoscopic visions to an awe-struck crowd.
Every part of the building is wired for sound, with patented technology that can beam pinpoint focussed waves of sound through 167,000 speakers wherever they want in the venue, delivering what critics say is “crystal clear headphone standard audio to every audience member”.
Rivalling Big Ben in height (96 metres) and at the same width as the London Eye (120 metres), the planned arena in London can house 21,500 visitors.
The venue, which maker MSG says can host concerts, awards ceremonies, boxing matches and gaming events, was given planning permission last year.
But is awaiting sign off from Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London and Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
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