5 Country Stars Who Should Play The Las Vegas Sphere
Kenny Chesney just announced that he will bring his brand of American music to Sphere in Las Vegas. The 12-date residency will begin in May.
Kenny said in a statement, “I’m always looking for ways to deepen the way No Shoes Nation experiences this music. Over the years, they have shown me through their own response to these songs how passionate they are about what they mean, and how these songs are part of their lives. When people give you that much heart, I want to give them even more.”
Sphere is known for its 167,000 individual speakers, which can be dialed into each section with dazzling specificity, and fully immersive visual capabilities that deliver over 171 million pixels across a 160,000 square foot screen wrapping up, over, and around the audience, plus 4D technologies including haptic seats.
He noted of the facility, “Knowing how much intensity our shows generate, my mind started thinking about all the things we could do. Once you see how the show wraps all the way around you, the dreaming begins.”
Chesney joins the select cultural icons U2, Dead & Company (a band featuring former members of the Grateful Dead with John Mayer), the Eagles, and Phish to headline the 17,600-seat spherical venue that has redefined the live entertainment experience and employs next-generation technologies.
We got to thinking, “What other country stars could dazzle fans with a show at the Sphere in Las Vegas?” So, we gathered a list of five country superstars that would be a good fit for the epic music venue.
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Jelly Roll
Jelly Roll has been on fire in the last year, and judging by what people say about his high-octane live show, the Las Vegas Sphere would be an ideal location for him to show his stuff. As hard as Jelly has worked in the last year, this would be a great cap off to start at the sphere when Chesney’s residency ends.
So many of his songs are so engaging and tell a story, the scenes behind him in the Sphere could light up with the drama of his song lyrics. I can already picture what “Save Me” would do in that type of venue in Sin City.
Keith Urban
I am not gonna lie; I am partial to Keith Urban and always have been since I started to interview him over twenty years ago when he first started out. This guy was born to entertain and has one of the best stage shows in any genre. He’s funny on stage and interacts with his fans at shows. And, of course, can play the guitar like no one else. Urban already plays a Vegas residency a couple of times each year, so the Sphere would be a natural fit for him. I’d love to see the visuals he comes up with in a setting like the Sphere.
Lainey Wilson
Lainey is a CMA Entertainer of the Year winner (2023) and has proven herself a hard worker. She headlined her own soldout tour in 2024 and worked tirelessly to give fans a show they could expect from an Entertainer of the Year. Shortly after winning that big honor, she told us in an interview, “The people that I look up to and respect voted for me, and it’s really cool to be recognized. When we won, I’m just the type of person who I’m not like. ‘Alright, we did it, that’s it.’ I was like, ‘Okay, well, they crowned me Entertainer of the Year, so it’s about time I show ’em that I am.’ For the ones who thought I deserved it and for the ones who thought I didn’t.”
Playing a show at the Las Vegas Sphere would be an amazing opportunity for Wilson to outdo herself on stage. Looking at the work she puts into her video creation and even her television stage moments, it’s a no-brainer she would be great with a dome of activity behind her every move on stage.
Carrie Underwood
When Carrie kicked off her “Denim & Rhinestones Tour” in late 2022, I was invited as a guest of Underwood to travel with her and other music friends to Kentucky and check out the show. Carrie’s performance was non-stop action with backdrops of video content, which would be perfect for the Las Vegas Sphere. A multiple Entertainer of the Year winner for the ACM, Underwood is a pro and has the live show down to near perfection.
There is no doubt Carrie works hard and even flies through the air over her crowd at a couple of points in the show in a ring. We’d think that the Sphere would be set up for artists who want to fly over the crowd. She would be amazing in that setting and already had the Las Vegas crowd charmed in her“ Reflections” show at Resorts World that wrapped recently and will be a special on HULU this year.
Reba McEntire
Reba is hard at work these days in Hollywood as the star of her own sitcom on NBC, Happy’s Place. However, she may just make a move to a Las Vegas residency. Reba has always done Vegas, but not yet a big residency, and if you have ever through the years seen Reba in concert, you know what a showman she is.
She recently told us that she loves the way Garth Brooks plays for fans at his Vegas residency. Can you imagine what Reba could do to “Fancy” in a dome covered with video screens? I had the chance to see her 2023 concert tour, and aside from singing every word to every song as loud as possible, the capacity crowd was hypnotized by her performance from the minute she hit the stage. Yeah, she’s still got it.
