Today, one of ILLENIUM’s favorite escapes is a (self-described) addiction to golf. When Hit Parader catches up with ILLENIM, a.k.a. Nick Miller, he has just left the exclusive Summit Club golf course in Henderson, Nevada. He is eager to talk about his debut of the Odyssey residency at the Las Vegas Sphere. To say he is very present in the conversation is an understatement.
If you rely on AI for intelligence, you may notice that it does not get it right when you search ILLENIUM. It incorrectly states that the beloved GRAMMY®-nominated EDM artist and producer did his Sphere residency in March and April 2026 “to support his sixth studio album Odyssey (Republic Records).” In truth, Miller set out to create an engrossing storyline designed specifically for the world’s most technologically advanced venue. The album’s 19 tracks simply support a live visual experience highlighting his much loved bass genre, hardcore and country influences. Odyssey’s music drives the narrative for an unprecedented immersive experience designed specifically for the space in partnership with Berlin-based visual animation studio Woodblock. Other artists appearing at Sphere have added visuals to existing songs (Dead & Company, U2, The Eagles) or designed visuals for specific unreleased tracks (Anyma). Yet no artist has created an entire album designed to be a full-on Sphere experience – until now.
Born in San Francisco and now living in Denver, ILLENIUM is most closely associated with the iconic symbol of the Phoenix rising from the flame. After kicking drug addiction in 2012 he became one of the biggest electronic music creators to emerge in the last decade. One of his most impressive attributes is his passionate, loyal following who resonate with the artist’s ability to transform pain into beauty through musical experiences they can escape into.
The tracks on Odyssey deliver on this promise as a storyline unfolds with different collaborators on each track including Ellie Goulding, Alok, Hayla, Bring Me The Horizon, Mako, Lauren Alaina and more. The immersive aspects of the show, including haptic seats and the spatial audio, set the dramatic stage, to bring ILLENIUM’s light and dark story to life in a manner that has never been done before. He explains, “I love the black and the white and different energetic fields of our lives coming together and how we captured it with the Odyssey production. When we first started our journey, no pun intended, it was in December 2024. In January and February, we were seriously writing the plot and I knew I wanted it all to be new in terms of a creative experience at the Sphere – unlike anything else in the entertainment world. We didn’t use any visuals we’ve used before or even anything similar. But the whole immersive aspects of the story were started from the ground up when I wrote the album and made the set before I finished the album. The Phoenix is always consistent in my brain – that’s what I love, and really how I feel. It connects me to music in my own life story.”
Adding, “We pretty much finished the album by October, and since then we’ve been spatially mixing it nonstop. I love how it sounds. It’s a really dynamic show, really intense and loud at points, but really huge with moving soundscapes and a lot of creativity. My brand doesn’t really revolve around deep visuals, so it was kind of tricky to announce the show and tease how amazing and beautiful it is. It’s much larger than just going to see an ILLENIUM concert. We went way deeper, which paid off. I am so proud of the show!”
You can acutely sense Miller’s obsession with gaming, films like Dune, and anime when experiencing Odyssey live. “It’s just nuts,” he says, “because Sphere is a place where you can brilliantly meld all those types of influences. Oh, man, I still freaking love The Witcher 3 games and all the Game of Thrones series, Lord of the Rings, Elden Ring. I play a lot of shooters and stuff but in terms of fascinating world building, those are definitely tops for me including Star Wars and Red Dead Redemption. I’ve done a lot of work with deadmau5, as well. Yeah, Joel’s the man!” In fact, Miller uses deadmau5’s OSC/Pilot GUI-Building Performance tool to create his onstage performance at Sphere.
Considering all of this, it may seem strange that the word most people use to describe ILLENIUM is “authentic.” British singer-songwriter Hayla, who co-wrote and sang Odyssey’s biggest hit, “In Your Arms,” claims “Honestly, it’s been a true honor to work with Nick and his team. I have to say they are probably some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever worked with. Everybody’s just so authentic and considering they’re in a show like the Sphere, everybody just has it sewn together, and there’s this calming atmosphere around them.” Hayla and ILLENIUM’s hit song has nearly 17 million plays on Spotify and was nominated for Best Dance Song of the Year by iHeart Music Awards.
When reading Reddit discussions, fans say, “Odyssey is exactly why ILLENIUM is the only EDM artist I have consistently followed for over a decade” and they thank him for always being “so open and personal with your music… your authenticity is inspiring and one of the reasons why we love all of your music.” Adding that the Sphere visuals blew their mind.
ILLENIUM has always scaled an innovative edge in Las Vegas, a city that has been a
transformative part of his journey. He was the first artist to play Allegiant Stadium after it was built for the Raiders football team in 2021 (ironically after Garth Brooks backed out), presenting his Trilogy Show where he performed three sets from his earlier albums Ashes, Awake and Ascend. He had one of the first residencies at Resorts World’s state-of-the-art club, Zouk, and prior to that he held residencies with the Tao Group at Hakkasan and Omnia. And now, the Sphere…
When asked if he has an even earlier history with the city, he tells us that his grandmother and mom’s grandparents lived in Vegas “for a long time but I didn’t visit much.” His grandfather had a full cattle ranch outside of Wells, Nevada and his family “was hardcore into country music.” Miller’s mom grew up in Reno but the first time he truly came to Vegas was for EDC in 2014. “The very first time I ever came to Vegas is kind of funny. I flew into the airport once. I went to this wilderness rehab, Freeman Center. It was an hour and a half outside of the city in between here and St. George. I spent 70 days out in the wilderness. It was actually awesome. I just needed to get out of San Francisco to remember what it was like to be human, you know? I’ve always loved the outdoors, and I felt like I found my sense of humor again. You have no temptations in the outdoors. It’s basic core survival… like building a fire. Thank God I got out of drugs before the whole fentanyl thing. It’s always been playing with fire, but it’s especially nowadays.”
So, at the end of the day, what impact does Nick Miller want to leave behind? As ILLENIUM, he feels like he’s doing it with the Sphere shows. “Anyone who I saw that went to the show in person had really remarkable comments about it. They said it was really emotional because some of the music really helped them get through whatever their struggle is. I want my work to be a place for humans to have a human experience and human connections. It’s meant for you to get some escape, and that can be as simple as being in Vegas for the weekend. You go and it’s super entertaining and it leaves an impact, you know? Anything on that scale is what I want to leave behind.”
As for the most emotional moment of the Sphere shows, ILLENIUM doesn’t hesitate to say, “Oh, man, it was that first night, getting to the encore. There’s a little medley where I go through the journey of my albums. And having six now, I knew it was gonna hit. But it really hit me emotionally realizing where I was standing and seeing all the fans reacting to it… understanding that everybody’s been on the journey with me, listening to me and following these six albums. And we’re now in this place that’s magical. At the end of a set, there was so much emotion and so many highs and lows!”
So, was it worth clearing his schedule and dedicating all those months to just a handful of
shows?
“Hell, yeah!”
