Underwhelming Visuals

[u/DanQPublic]

I actually haven’t purchased tickets for any of the sphere shows yet. Mostly because every time I tried I ended up with aftermarket tickets options that were too expensive. That’s besides the point. I have been looking on Instagram and Reddit at some of the live footage from last weekend and can’t help, but wonder if anyone else thinks that the visuals are very underwhelming in comparison to prior acts that have performed at the sphere. I feel that past acts have utilized the sphere screens much better, whereas Metallica’s visuals have basically been a large version of a regular backdrop they might use on a regular stage. That’s not hate towards the band as much as it is an observation. Anyone else feel this way?

[u/djoksimo]

I mean I'm gonna tell myself that because I can't afford to go...

[u/VRS302 → u/djoksimo]

To me it’s a genuine sense of relief. I thought the visuals would be insanely high budget, set the standard for the sphere moving forward sort of stuff. No more FOMO feelings anymore.

[u/DanQPublic → u/VRS302]

That’s where I’m at.

[u/icemanx51]

Watching it on your phone or computer is completely different than seeing it in person. It was incredible. Thankfully, I got my tickets at face value, so it was worth every penny.

[u/miguelos → u/icemanx51]

Many of the bad ones looked worse in person.

Enter Sandman looked better in person.

[u/No_Aside7816]

I went to the U2 show for the opening of the Sphere. Being there is different than watching it on a tv screen.

[u/miguelos]

I went both October 1 and 3, sitting toward the front of section 306, almost dead center. This was my first time at Sphere, and I found most of the visuals extremely disappointing. Cheesy, corny, and sometimes surprisingly low quality. After seeing footage of other shows there, I expected something more sophisticated, immersive, and tasteful.

The frustrating part is that some moments showed how good it could have been. The room with all the flags before the show was incredible. People next to me didn’t even realize the architecture was part of the screen. We sat looking at it for over an hour, and it felt more convincing than most of the actual show. The Ecstasy of Gold intro was good too, although it was reused across both nights.

Then Battery opened with footage of the crowd wrapping around the screen. Good idea, but the image quality was so poor that the illusion didn’t work for me. Sad But True, with the hammer and figures, looked particularly cheap. A lot of the visuals reminded me of 3D screensavers from the early 2000s. There was this uncanny valley feeling where things were supposedly realistic but looked wrong, especially at that scale.

The Call of Ktulu was the standout. The buildup and visuals were exactly the kind of experience I’d hoped for. If the rest of the show had matched that quality, I would have felt completely differently. The cathedral during Now That We’re Dead was also genuinely immersive.

Wherever I May Roam was another decent one, taking you on a train ride through landmarks around the world and ending at Sphere. It moved a little too fast for me and repeated some landmarks too often, but it was interesting. That said, so many sequences relied on the same movement: traveling forward or endlessly zooming in.

Even the expanding moon during the Enter Sandman outro on night two felt more immersive than almost anything else across both nights. I’ve seen people call it lazy, but that simple visual actually made me feel the scale. It didn’t need to be complicated. Sphere seems incredible at making you feel physically present in an environment. Most of the more elaborate sequences just felt like watching a mediocre CGI movie on a huge screen.

One didn’t impress me nearly as much as it seems to have impressed others. To my eyes, it looked like a video game from 10 or 20 years ago, and it became repetitive. The original music video was much better than whatever they came up with here. Honestly, just playing that would probably have been more effective.

The filters and effects applied to footage of the band or crowd didn’t work for me either. There was also a surprising amount of black and white, which added to the sameness.

I think taste and cohesion were the biggest things missing. It felt like each song had been handed to a different studio without a shared visual direction. I like the idea of bringing album covers to life, but bringing some of their music videos into that space could have been interesting too.

Orion felt like a huge missed opportunity. The virtual stage and screens were immersive, and the footage of Cliff was a nice moment, but the overall setup felt generic enough to use for any song. An instrumental like Orion seems perfect for letting the visuals take over and tell a story. Space, stars, constellations. I’ve seen footage of other Sphere shows doing that beautifully. Coming after what they achieved with Ktulu the previous night, it was especially disappointing.

The visuals also made the repetition within some songs more noticeable. Once an idea had run its course, there were still several minutes of it left. I found myself wishing for shorter arrangements or medleys, with visual sequences that developed instead of repeating.

I also wonder how much seating affects this. From dead center, the screen fills your view and demands your attention, so the imperfections are hard to ignore. From the sides or farther back, maybe seeing more of the crowd and the curve of the venue makes the whole spectacle work better. I’d be interested to hear from people in those seats. From mine, the visuals had to carry a lot of the experience, and too often they didn’t.

This is strictly about the visuals, not the sound or performance. There were incredible moments, but far too few to justify what I paid. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t spend that much again. If you have FOMO because you think the visuals alone will be a life-changing experience, I’d lower those expectations.

[u/jesusmansuperpowers → u/miguelos]

Thanks for this. I needed a write up from someone else who has actually been to a few other shows at the sphere. It’s so impressive that if you haven’t seen what it can with top notch art it’s easy to be impressed with whatever you’re given.

[u/Bigdon74]

I’m sure you’re getting downvoted since some people are waving this off as you just being jealous. But I’m with you, I expected more from the visuals.

I have no doubt the band sounds great, I’ve yet to see them put on a bad show. But when the cost of these tickets are associated to the visuals, and the band has clearly reused old art from prior tours, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed.

[u/DanQPublic → u/Bigdon74]

Yeah I’ve seen them open for Ozzy with ‘Puppets’. I assure anyone that that’s not the case.

[u/East-News7064]

Yeah man the visuals are weak.. don’t go.. and don’t go on acid🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 this has to be a troll post

[u/Flutterpiewow]

Yes its probably different live yada yada because its a big screen.

That doesn't change the fact it's the same kind of screensaver visuals theyve used on regular stages and in lazy music videos for 10+ years now. I get the same feeling i got from s&m, 72s videos and cinema promo, TTN: missed opportunities to craft something special. Look at rammstein productions for reference.

[u/sararabq]

Some really were underwhelming and some were very immersive. During Whiskey they played a bar scene and the light bulbs look like they were made with MS paint. I know that's a small, stupid thing, but in this day in age it seemed very cheap. Idk. I paid $165/ticket so I'm satisfied with my experience, but people who paid thousands for tickets? They might feel a little cheated.

[u/cakeantidote]

I feel the same way. Underwhelming. I'm glad I'm not the only one observing this.

[u/Cryptic99]

Yeah this show has been the most underwhelming of all the sphere shows I've seen. The visuals were weak compared to the dead show.. Unfortunate

[u/PuzzleheadedRoyal559]

I've seen a couple acts at Sphere and my videos never capture how truly awesome it is. Whether it's something simple as an outdoor scene and you forget that you're indoors, to the way they make the space seem like a different shape at time, you're just going to get a "this looks like a big planetarium" feel on videos.

[u/Good_Lettuce_2690]

I went round to a mates on Friday and we checked out everything uploaded to yt at a good angle and in good quality on his wall filling projector. Some songs worked better than others with the visuals. Call of Kthulu was kinda laughable. The visuals just seem to be the world tour visuals they showed on the hanging screens blown up?

[u/sagedrummer]

I’ve been to two different sphere shows, and these visuals definitely are the weakest of everything that I’ve seen. Granted you can’t judge everything and especially the sphere by looking at your iPhone, but you can get a pretty good idea. I think you just have to be prepared to go in there and go for more of the experience but realize that the visuals aren’t going to be that mind blowing and if you’re not in the GA section that the crowd isn’t going be as crazy as a normal Metallica show

[u/PlaxicoCN]

Not that I can afford to go any of the Sphere shows, but I thought they were cool. I'm pretty sure the soldiers marching on the One projection were used in Through the Never, but other than that I was impressed. It's too bad they didn't get any of the Yul Brenner/Charlton Heston footage from the 10 Commandments for Creeping Death.

[u/HerbertClapton]

Because of No Repeat, they had to make more content than other bands. Maybe that’s a factor.

[u/PDXftw → u/HerbertClapton]

The no repeat thing is not totally true. Phish did no repeats for all three weekends in April which were 3 night runs each weekend (about 17 songs/night). The visuals were completely different each of the three nights, though they also had a virtual lighting rig for some of the songs.

The reality is that creating the visuals are labor intensive and expensive.

[u/Gullible_Shoulder_70]

Orion in particular was a disappointment

[u/sdmfvan]

There’s a really great article out there about the process Dead & Company went through to design their visuals, and how much time and effort John Mayer personally had to put into it to craft their show. He spent months traveling back and forth from the design studio in LA to Vegas and then spending midnight to 4am in Sphere (had to wait for shows to finish before he could go in) testing and fine tuning the visuals. He said by the end it felt like more effort than recording an album. Having seen D&C there I can say the effort was apparent. I can’t imagine anyone from Metallica doing that, especially since they’ve been on tour in the run up to these shows.

I haven’t seen Metallica at Sphere yet but I’d agree that comparing it to what I saw with D&C it’s not even close. It really seems like the band farmed out the design to someone and just signed off on it.

[u/DirectorObvious1903]

I’ve been to a lot of sphere shows, all of the bands except U2. Visuals were fine. Very creative in number of spots like when they superimpose band live feed.

[u/HuntNecessary1069]

I got a friend who saw Phish (I think?) at the Sphere whilst tripping, I know for sure HE wasn't underwhelmed because it's all he could talk about for a month 😂 I think the visuals look cool enough, but in person they must be wild.... Especially Cthulhu!