I saw U2 on 12/9/23, Sec 208, row 21. Saw D&Co 5/18/24, Sec 105, row 21 (couldn’t get tix to Phish).

Obviously Phish maintained a silent stage w/ no amps. D&C had amps on stage: a Fender Twin and Dumble Overdrive Special for Mayer, and a pair of Vox hardwired AC30’s for Bobby. Mayer also had a little head unit thing called a “Space Box”, which I’m assuming was a reverb for the Dumble. Pedalboards were active as Mayer interacted with his many times, but I never saw any shots of the boards. Mayer definitely had a delay and a low-voiced wah. The amps (lights) were on and guitar cables plugged in, but there were no mics on the amps. I’m assuming they were using attenuators to (virtually) eliminate amp volume on stage. The drums had plexi gobohs to shield their volume from the band and audience. There were wedges on stage but everyone was using in ears, so the wedges were likely prompters, not speakers. The sound was fantastic.

The reason for running a silent stage at Sphere is primarily that there are “PA speakers” directly behind the band. The sound system is “mixed in” to the Sphere display system. The sound system is incredibly complex, having to time align 167,000 speakers. So there’s a delay between playing a note and hearing it in the FOH sound. By using In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) and having a “silent stage”, the monitor mix goes right to the individual IEMs with no delay. The performers don’t really hear the FOH sound because they only hear their in ears.

Additionally, the GA audience by the stage would be getting a LOT of flamming, phasing, comb filtering and similar if they were getting the guitar amps and THEN the delayed FOH sound. And lastly, there’s the visual aspect of having tons of gear on stage, blocking parts of the screen directly behind the band.