'It's about protecting the dance floor': My night at the Las Vegas Sphere with DJ Solomun

It’s a little after 10pm in Las Vegas, but away from the clatter of slot machines I step into a glowing forest. Branching fractals of trees fizzle with white light, exploding into showers of pixels, each movement hypnotic to a steady bass and rising ethereal hum. 

And no, I'm not tripping - just inside the Sphere’s hallucinatory bubblescape for a one-off electronic dance music (EDM) show by Bosnian-German DJ Mladen Solomun. 

A mainstay of the Ibiza club scene and four-time DJ award winner, Solomun is one of many high-profile artists to guest for the ‘Afterlife Presents: Anyma – The End of Genesys’ residency, launched by Italian-American DJ Matteo Milleri in December 2024.

The first ever EDM show to headline at the Sphere, Vegas' $2.3 billion (€2.19 billion) cutting-edge arena, it redefines the traditionally intimate rave experience through immersive visuals that explore the relationship between humans and machines.

When asked to collaborate last year, Solomun was most excited about the Sphere’s cinematic potential, having worked in the film industry before beginning a music career 20 years ago. 

“This is the right place to tell a story. I mean, it's the biggest cinema in the world. And this is my other passion. I love movies, I love film, I love storytelling, even if it's not part of my usual concept when I'm DJing and throwing parties, not shows,” Solomun tells Euronews Culture. 

The project was unlike anything he’d done before, demanding he take on the role of creative director - a pressure that temporarily collapsed his vision into overwhelm: “I was super stressed the whole summer and [Matteo] was like, ‘bro, relax, it's just one show’. But I wanted to do something cool. And then I cancelled [my involvement].” 

As the Anyma residency neared its end, four additional shows were added for February and March 2025. Matteo approached Solomun once again, who by this point felt more at ease with taking part.  

“The pressure was a little bit gone. I [wanted] to tell the smaller story of what I stressed myself last year to tell,” Solomun explains. “I'm trying to, even in this place, be focused on music and dancing. A continuation of the story that began with the videos for my album 'Nobody Is Not Loved'. A story about the divine power of music that loves all people equally. And building on that, about dance as a universal, the first language of humanity.” 

From Boiler Room to Sphere

Gentle in demeanour, Solomun’s laid-back energy and penchant for epic all-night sets have made him a household name on the EDM club circuit.

His ability to cultivate a sense of collective catharsis is perhaps best encapsulated in a 2015 performance at Tulum’s Boiler Room, where he effortlessly sips wine in shades, surrounded by adoring fans. One of the top comments on the YouTube video, which has 68 million views, reads: “I have watched this that many times that [I] consider myself good friends with everyone in the crowd.”

Translating this unique sense of intimacy to a huge, commercial space like the Sphere might sound impossible, but as I watch glittered ravers gather around the 49-year-old DJ on the decks below, he remains a comforting speck, a heartbeat amidst the abyss of the simulation. 

An orb-like figure appears across the 160,000-square-foot LED screen, text fading in: “What does everyone naturally do when they walk into a dark forest alone? They start whistling or singing - and you immediately feel less alone, less afraid. As long as the music plays, you don't have to be afraid.”  

This idea of disconnecting from the anxieties of reality is not just core to Solomun’s show, but the EDM scene as a whole. The music is repetitive, slipping into subgenres blended by beats and synthesised sounds, creating a trance-like state of togetherness. More than just music, it's a state of being, built upon the sort of carefree closeness that bottlenecks existence into a blur.

“This is the most sacred place in the end, the dance floor,” Solomun says, his set combining blazing celestial visuals with glitching dance sequences by Spanish choreographer Blanca Li, who has worked with everyone from Pedro Almodóvar to Beyoncé and Daft Punk. “It's about protecting the dance floor, where we can just lose ourselves, and the power of music.” 

Redefining the EDM experience

In a world where everyone is glued to technology, protecting the purity of EDM spaces from external distractions has become increasingly difficult. In this sense, the Sphere feels like the antithesis of the small underground clubs where the scene first flourished, their stripped-back states an essential part of connecting in the moment.

However, as artists continue to look for more visually immersive ways to express their ideas and entice new audiences, Solomun believes it’s good to have the option of venues like the Sphere - so long as the essence of the scene is still honoured. 

“Styles change. Life changes. Technology changes. And then it's always up to the next generation to decide which direction they want to go in,” he says. “Some people are super inspired by what Matteo's doing with ‘Afterlife’. Or some people just love underground dirty clubs. There's always space for everybody. But for me, the most important thing is dancing.”

Solomun’s words echo in my mind as I remain glued to my seat, watching a flaming Blanca Li forcefully freestyle on the screen in front of me. At this point I should confess: this is my first EDM gig - and the closest thing to a rave I’ve been to was a neon party at my student union over a decade ago (where I quickly fell asleep on a chair after too much Vermouth.) 

A man in a bucket hat and sunglasses approaches and asks if he can sit next to me, explaining that his assigned row was “not the vibe”. Sitting in my coat with a notebook and pen, I’m not sure I’m the vibe either, but this seasoned raver from Queens quickly sweeps me into the frenetic friendliness of the scene. 

Suddenly everyone is chatting and dancing, checking in on each other, and the vastness of the space seems to shrink - we have our own little bubble inside the bubble. As the visuals turn to a Blade Runner-esque steampunk city, the man to my right whispers: “It’s like we’re all just so connected right now” - and even in my sober state, I agree.  

The Sphere itself is undeniably impressive. Completed in 2023 and standing 366 feet (111 metres) high, it appears like an illuminated boil on Vegas’ desert of casinos and kitsch. While most things labelled as immersive tend to be gimmicky tourist attractions - and there’s certainly an element of that here - it’s impossible not to gawp at the sheer scope inside. 

Much like Vegas itself, the Sphere envelopes you in an artifice that's both dazzling and disorientating - a giant sensory playground. During Solomun’s show, it also cradles you in peaceful moments - like the visuals of driving through a neon-washed abandoned city, any soft swell of euphoria from the music tempered by calming lo-fi scenery. 

“Electronic music was always the most important, or the most famous scene in terms of disconnecting from reality,” Solomun says - and nothing captures this feeling quite so literally like being inside a big ball of Matrix. 

While the Sphere is incomparable to the free flowing authenticity of traditional EDM clubs, Anyma’s ‘Afterlife’ residency proves that it can still provide a uniquely powerful and unified experience; capturing the worlds we quietly conjure on the dance floor with astonishing artistry. 

The set comes to an end, and I feel both elated and exhausted, as though waking from a vivid dream. A woman in a sequinned cap hands me water while the Queens raver gives me a hug. True to Solomun’s words, I feel less alone - back to a reality where, though the sky may be black, music and dancing always light the way.