The gigantic metal mesh of the
Fremont Street Experience
, completed in 1995, stretches for four entire blocks of Fremont Street, from Main Street to Fourth. Ninety feet high, this "Celestial Vault" shades the pedestrianized street during the day, but comes into its own at night. It's studded with over two million colored lightbulbs, which effectively turn into a giant movie screen. Specially designed light shows are controlled by 121 computers, which run what are claimed to be among the most complicated programs ever written. Some simply consist of colorful patterns; others transform the quarter-mile length of Fremont Street into a virtual-reality theater. The spectators below gasp, stagger and applaud as they're catapulted into space or menaced by colossal swarming snakes. There's no plot or content, just pure eye-catching spectacle and a blast of soft-rock sound; in essence, it's an updated version of downtown's traditional neon signs.
Free performances of the Experience take place every night, hourly from sundown until midnight; schedules are listed on the website
. It's jointly sponsored by ten downtown casinos, which turn off all their external lights while it's happening. Each show lasts a mere six minutes; the idea is that at the end you'll find yourself milling around on the street with nowhere to go except into the nearest casino.
