Sometimes switching up your workflow makes all the difference.
For years, Illenium had always written music for “listeners” but when it came time to plan his Sphere show ‘Odyssey,’ he reverse engineered the process.
“I didn’t have an album planned. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” the 35-year-old DJ told The Post in an exclusive interview about his Las Vegas residency from March 5 through April 4.
“So, I made this album planning how I would play it at Sphere from day one. The first thing we did was storyboard our vision…once we built out the storyline, I started writing the album to that narrative, which is unique because often I’ll make the album first and then build out the show. This time I switched that up and wrote a soundtrack for the story.”
“We went all out because, for me, the only proper way to do Sphere is by bringing in new visuals and a fresh story.”
14 short months later, the expansive, genre-hopping 19-track album — featuring impressive special guests like Ellie Goulding, Kid Cudi, Bring Me The Horizon, Zeds Dead and Bastille among others — is available and Illenium aka Nick Miller is days away from his Sphere debut that he promises will be “as immersive as possible.”
“I love movies, I love fantasy. The tone of the show is very ‘Dune’-inspired and also has nods to gaming and anime that all came. to life thanks to Woodblock [a German animation studio],” Miller shared.
“There’s a big battle scene that I’m f—ing stoked for,” he added. “Then ‘The Slave To The Rithm’ visual is going to blow up. I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s rad.”
That’s not all Illenium isn’t disclosing.
With an album that has a roster chock full of household name collaborators, one has to wonder if any of them will be popping into Sphere to perform with Miller.
“It’s going to be unique to every day,” he spilled. “We don’t have it all finalized yet, but there definitely will be special guests at my shows.”
While they’re kept secret, we do know Illenium will be joined by exciting opening acts like Alok, Levity, Slander, Tape B and DJ Diesel aka Shaq.
He’s going all out for them, too.
“…[we] were able to implement some of the artists’ actual visuals, which no one has done for at Sphere yet. We wanted to keep the support as hype as possible and have it be its own show.”
And if you’ve never been to an EDM concert, Illenium guarantees you’ll have a mind-bending time.
“I’ve never been to a show at this level,” he grinned. “Everything is locked in. I just can’t imagine audiences not having an epic time.”
Sounds like his unconventional planning paid off.
If you want to join the ‘Oddysey,’ we have all Sphere dates, special guests, a bonus interview where Illenium spills a surprise audience member he has planned for one of his gigs and more below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Illenium Las Vegas Sphere schedule 2026
All Las Vegas Sphere ‘Odyssey’ dates, start times and links to buy tickets are listed here:
Illenium tour schedule 2026
A complete calendar including all non-Sphere U.S. tour/festival dates, fellow headliners and links to buy tickets can be found below.
| Illenium tour dates |
|---|
| March 27-29 at the Ultra Music Festival with John Summit, Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Eric Prydz, Sara Landry |
| May 30 at Under The K Bridge Park in Brooklyn, NY with Dabin |
| June 25-28 at Electric Forest in Rothbury, MI with Kaskade, Excision, Griz, Passion Pit, Chris Lake |
| Sept. 4-6 at the North Coast Music Festival in Bridgeview, IL with Griz, Porter Robinson, Sammy Virji, Fisher, Gryffin |
Other 2026 events at Las Vegas Sphere
When Illenium isn’t lighting up the Sphere stage, many other exciting shows are headed to Vegas’ premier entertainment destination.
Here’s what’s up next at the one-of-a-kind venue.
| Sphere shows |
|---|
| “The Wizard of Oz” Runs indefinitely Larger-than-life screenings of the iconic film. |
| Eagles Feb. 27 through April 11 The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers deliver their legendary stable of hits. |
| Phish April 16 through May 2 The jam band legends have nine freewheeling, unpredictable shows planned. It’s likely no two will be the same. |
| No Doubt May 6 through June 13 Gwen Stefani’s ’90s hitmakers are coming out of semi-retirement to deliver their greatest hits. |
| Kenny Chesney June 19 through July 11 The country crooner will bring the good times to Sin City playing his biggest songs for the No Shoes Nation. |
| Backstreet Boys July 16 through Aug. 8 The boy band revisits their beloved “Millennium” album. |
| Carín León Sept. 4-6 and 11-13 The Mexican singer-songwriter pays tribute to his home country during Mexican Independence Day weekend. |
| Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao Sept. 19 The legendary boxers are squaring up in a one-time rematch. |
| Metallica Oct. 1 through Jan. 30, 2027 The metal heroes will play “no repeat” weekends celebrating their back catalog. |
If you’re planning a Las Vegas trip, you can find a complete calendar of all upcoming events at Sphere here.
“Odyssey” track listing
Haven’t had a chance to listen to the album that inspired the residency?
You can listen here while following along with the track list:
01.) “Odyssey”
02.) “Into The Dark” (feat. Mako)
03.) “Forever” (feat. Tom Grennan & Alna)
04.) “With Your Love” (feat. Ryan Tedder)
05.) “Feels Like You” (feat. Elley Duhé)
06.) “In My Arms” (feat. HAYLA)
07.) “Don’t Want Your Love” (feat. Ellie Goulding)
08.) “Slave to The Rithm” (feat. Bring Me The Horizon)
09.) “War” (feat. Lø Spirit)
10.) “I’ll Come Runnin’” (feat. Zeds Dead & Mako)
11.) “Take Me Back” (feat. Dean Lewis)
12.) “Love Is A Chemical” (feat. Lauren Alaina)
13.) “Feel Alive” (feat. Bastille & Dabin)
14.) “Monster” (feat. EMMY)
15.) “Refuge” (feat. Norma Jean Martine)
16.) “Not Ordinary” (feat. Kid Cudi)
17.) “Paris”
18.) “To The Moon” (feat. Alok)
19.) “Ur Alive” (feat. WYLDE)
Illenium interview
Ahead of the residency, we spoke with Illenium at length. Here’s what he told us about his show, album and much, much more.
Can you tell us about the story you’re telling with “Odyssey”?
It’s about accepting both the light and the dark within yourself and accepting that the part of you that’s struggling can benefit you as a whole person.
Humans aren’t pure good or evil. The album is about accepting each other and finding balance.
So this is semi-autobiographical?
In everything I do, I reference my own life because I went through dark periods and from that found music and passion.
I don’t regret those dark moments because they are part of me. That’s who I was and that’s not something to hate. You have to find self-love even even if you’re ashamed or guilty. Everyone has those experiences as a human where they’re like “f—, I f—ed up.”
This show is about accepting those and surrendering to that part of the human experience. It’s fun to make that idea really massive and build a world around it.
When people leave, hopefully they’ll say “I’m going to remember that forever.” That’s what I’m always striving for.
What will the experience be for audience members at Sphere?
There are full-rager moments. Some audience may want to remain seated for those because of the haptic feedbacks. It’s going to be a total mix of standing, sitting and dancing.
How did Woodblock create a visual language that marries your sound to Sphere’s images?
They filled in the gaps perfectly. Woodblock helped so much in expanding our ideas and making them physical. They made the vision come to life. Thanks to Woodblock, we’ve gotten a cool mash of all the things I love.
Tell me about the album.
Some of my first albums come from a more casual listening perspective…this needed to have a big impact. I wanted everything to have a cinematic undertone that connects everything together.
There are score-y moments and minimal moments. Some of the album is heavy and other parts are wall of sound beautiful.
I love the listening experience from start to finish. There’s cool ebbs and flows and it’s a bit of a roller coaster ride and definitely a lot more house-y, trance-y sounding.
Plus, I got to work with a lot of the best vocalist of all time and crazy bands.
Will you be diving into your back catalog as well?
Oh yeah. I play every song on the album but not in its entirety.
For some of them I’ll play half. For others, I edited the songs in new ways but there’s a pretty good chunk of older material, too. A lot of it is based on key and tempos.
I won’t force anything in there unless it fits with the storyline.
How is the show different than Anyma’s?
It’s different in the sense it’s all new.
Anyma has been crushing. I saw him live at Sphere last January and left super inspired. He’s done really sick things with his characters. Like when Sphere advertised his residency with just his robot, everyone knew that was him. For me, we’re starting from scratch. No one knows anything.
We have these characters and this world we’ve built but Sphere is revealing them. None of it has been online or anything at all. It opens us up to be creative. We’ve we’ve definitely gone way deeper into the spatial sound and mixing than anyone at the Sphere and that goes with the visuals, too.
Nobody has had a full 90 minutes of story. It’s like a movie.
Do you think my three-year-old daughter would be into the show?
My niece’s first show is going to be the first Friday. I’m gonna shout her out.
It’s all ages too as long as you get ear plugs. There are some intense parts but it’s pretty good. Maybe PG-13. Depends how strict you are as a parent.
Huge EDM artists on tour in 2026
You don’t have to fly to Vegas to take in a mind, body and soul-expanding rave this year.
Don’t believe us?
Here are just five iconic DJs recommended by Illenium.
Rüfüs Du Sol is top for me. I love how massive they are nowadays.
Porter Robinson. I love his sets.
ALLEYCVT has been crushing it. I love her. I’ve been playing a lot of her music.
Level Up. Freaking awesome.
My wife and I both love Sarah Landry. She’s so sick. Her sets are so fun to lose your s— to. I love drum and bass, and I love high tempo. It does something to me as an audience member and set myself free.
Who else is out and about? Take a look at our list of all the biggest artists on tour in 2026 to find the show for you.
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
