Arms extended outward, the female humanoid with pulsating blue veins leans back and falls down a luminous, foliage-strewn abyss on the massive video screen before us.
She’s leading by example: For the thousands gathered here, this night is all about taking a similar plunge down an audio-visual rabbit hole of light and sound and a whole lot of computer-generated eyeballs, blinking to the beat.
“Explore your future,” a woman’s voice commands in song over rhythms that register like a sledgehammer to the sternum, and that’s exactly what it feels like we’re doing here at the Sphere on Friday during the opening performance of “The End of Genesys,” the new eight-show residency by Italian American DJ-producer Anyma, the first six of which sold out in 24 hours between the pre-sale and on-sale, moving 100,000 tickets.
The first electronic music concert at the Sphere felt like a long time coming — even though the venue has only been open for a little over a year — namely because its mountain-sized video screens and state-of-the-art sound system are perfectly designed to rocket the cutting-edge visuals and sonics inherent to the genre even further into the high-tech stratosphere.
And Anyma, who describes himself as “a hybrid persona, simultaneously coexisting in digital and physical realms,” is just the dude to take full advantage of the Sphere’s audio-video innovations.
As the title of his residency suggests, Anyma heavily mined his 2023 full-length debut, “Genesys,” on Friday, its songs bright and dark at once, with big, buoyant synth lines and propulsive, arms-in-the-air rhythms contrasted with mildly dystopian themes examining the man/machine divide.
The album’s visual presentation revolves around the aforementioned humanoid Eva, a synthetic entity in pursuit of human connection, her quest to transcend her artificial origins chronicled in a series of of stunning clips presented throughout the night that have to be seen to be believed — and even then, you may find yourself rubbing your pupils just to make sure you’re not caught in some futuristic fever dream.
Wait, did we just see Ellie Goulding’s face fracture into a series of puzzle piece-like shards revealing tendrils of circuitry after being massaged by multiple sets of different-colored hands? Yup. That came during the debut of Anyma’s new track with the British singer.
Another popster to make a King Kong-sized appearance in Anyma’s video presentation was his partner Grimes, writhing in a lightly colored bodysuit during their song “The Last Artists.”
Aside from the truly far-out visuals, there were plenty of in-the-flesh flourishes, too, with Anyma performing in a towering, illuminated DJ booth flanked by robots on similarly high risers that played the cello at one point.
“How does it feel to be real?” singer Sevdaliza wondered during Anyma’s “Samsara.”
Good question.
Ask one of those cello-playing robots.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @jasonbracelin76 on Instagram.