Rob Machado Surfs Las Vegas Sphere with Dead & Company

The Deadheads have arrived. They’ve crash landed in Las Vegas, stormed the strip, and flooded into the new, immersive theater venue known ominously as The Sphere. Bathed in tie-dye, the pilgrimage is for a multi-month residency of Dead and Co, a collection of original and new members of the celebrated psych-rock jam band, the Grateful Dead.

And on night one of the long, strange Vegas residency, attendees got a first glimpse at Mountains on the Moon – the latest project from artist and skier, Chris Benchetler – blasted on the walls of The Sphere, and featuring Rob Machado at Surf Ranch, under cover of darkness, and illuminated by an incandescent skeleton suit. (See above.)

It’s not the first time Benchetler has assembled a team of neon skeletons, portrayed by surfers and skiers, on film, but it is an extension. As the artist explained:

“My last film, Fire on the Mountain, featured skiers, snowboarders and surfers riding at night with lighting and effects that created a whole new way of seeing the sports, set to a hypnotic soundtrack from the Grateful Dead. Mountains of the Moon isn’t a sequel, it will be an immersive experience designed to explore even deeper themes and evocative visuals pushing nonlinear visual-storytelling to its absolute limit.”

As for the pairing of surfing and skiing with the rambling, free-wheeling sounds of the Dead, Benchetler sees it as a natural union:

“For me, the improvisational connectedness that the Dead express musically, is really no different than the experience that I have deciding on a line down a mountain or a surfer has when dropping-in on a wave. The experience will celebrate the spiritual, mystical feelings we have when we practice our various crafts.”

And the skeleton suits? Well, those just look cool.

Stay tuned for Mountains on the Moon, debuting in fall 2025.

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