U2 at the Sphere: Questions and Answers

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2023-05-12)

Eight new shows at the Las Vegas Sphere were announced today. These shows are December 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, and 16.

Two new pre-sale opportunities exist for U2.com subscribers. One for the October 27 – November 4 dates previously announced, and already sold via Verified Fan. The other for the newly announced December dates. Verified Fans who previously registered, but were waitlisted, may be able to participate in the new Verified fan sale. And we have information below about VIP and hotel packages as well as the general sale.

The new dates are:

Friday, December 1
Saturday, December 2
Wednesday, December 6
Friday, December 8
Saturday, December 9
Wednesday, December 13
Friday, December 15
Saturday, December 16

Our show archive for these dates is available here.

U2.Com Subscribers Sale (October 27 – November 4 Dates)

If you have not yet bought tickets for a show in September – November dates via U2.com you can now register to buy tickets for one of those shows via a ticket request system similar to what was in use for the first twelve shows.
You have until Monday, May 15, at 4am to submit your requests.
More information about this pre-sale is available here:
- U2.com Help Pages
- U2.com Announcement
- U2.com Tour pages
- If you require assistance you can also use your U2.Com subscription to log into the Zootopia forum, where there are threads with more information.
This is only for subscribers who have not yet purchased tickets to one of the 12 shows intially announced. If you have had success there, you will not be successful in this sale.
Make sure you know what email you use at U2.com and enter that where requested for this presale, otherwise your request will not be filled.
Ticket confirmations will be sent out the evening of May 17.
There are no codes being sent by U2.com, the program is open now, and is different than what was done in the past. This does not require verified fan, that is a separate sale.

U2.Com Subscribers Pre-Sale (December dates)

More information about this pre-sale is available here:
More information about this pre-sale is available here:
- U2.com Help Pages
- U2.com Announcement
- U2.com Tour pages
- If you require assistance you can also use your U2.Com subscription to log into the Zootopia forum, where there are threads with more information.
Make sure you know what email you use at U2.com and enter that where requested for this presale, otherwise your request will not be filled.
You can choose up to five shows, but you will only be confirmed for one show.
General admission tickets are not able to be transfered, and can only be sold back to Ticketmaster at the original purchase price.
Once you have read through the above documentation, you have until Monday, May 15 to submit your dates (4am PT / 7am ET)
Your card is not charged until you have been succesful getting tickets.
After your card is charged you will be notified of success, and will have to claim your tickets before seeing them in your Ticketmaster account.
Ticket confirmations will be sent out the evening of May 17.
There are no codes being sent by U2.com, the program is open now, and is different than what was done in the past. This does not require verified fan, that is a separate sale.

Verified Fan

This pre-sale is not tied to your U2.com account and is completely separate.
The Verified Fan Pre-sale will take place on Thursday May 18.
Ticketmaster has emailed “In order to accomomodate the high demand of Verified Fan registrations already received, a lottery-style selection will be used to give a limited number of previously waitlisted fans access to the newly announced December dates. Because you registered for the Verified Fan Presale and were previously placed on the waitlist, you will receive an email by the evening of Wednesday, May 17 letting you know whether you have been selected to participate in the Verified Fan Presale and will receive a unique access code.”
Access codes are tied to your Ticketmaster account and cannot be shared.
There appears to be no way to register for Verified Fan at this time.
If you previously received a Verified fan code you are not eligible for this round of verified fan sales.
In the previous Verified Fan sales, Platinum ticket prices were seen on almost all seats. There has been no announcement that they will be in use again, but we expect they will be.
More information is available at Ticketmaster’s U2 Blog Post

General Sale

A general sale will take place on Friday May 19 for these new dates.
If demand is high during the Verified Fan sale, the general sale may not happen and tickets may stay limited to Verified Fans.
In the previous round of sales, although it was announced there would be no General sale, tickets were made available without Verified Fan anyway as a general sale.

Hotel and VIP Packages

These allow you to bundle two nights in a Las Vegas hotel with your ticket choice.
GA and seats are available, as are a wide variety of hotel options, with packages for 1 – 4 people.
More information on what’s included in VIP package below.
These are already on sale for these newly announced nights.

The long-awaited dates at the new Sphere venue have been announced today with ticketing already underway.

What dates were announced?

Five shows were announced on April 24: September 29 & 30 and October 5, 7 & 8.
Seven additional shows were announced on April 25: October 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21 & 25.

Will more dates be announced?

U2 has been long rumoured to play 10 – 12 shows at this new venue. Currently 12 shows have been announced. Throughout October and into early November, the Sphere has open nights on Friday and Saturday as well as Wednesdays, where additional shows could be added. It is unknown whether or not additional shows will be added.

In an article posted on April 24, Rolling Stone shared “More shows are likely to be added when those initial five nights sell out.” and on the same day Variety interviewed The Edge and he shared, “Because of the size of the venue, the scope of this run will be probably a maximum of six weeks. And we couldn’t possibly really realistically do more shows than that.” More shows were added after these articles were released. (See links at the end of the article for these)

Will U2 take this show on the road?

Bono shared with Zane Lowe in the video below, “We’re not touring Achtung Baby, anyway with The Joshua Tree we took that album around the world, this will only be here.” The Edge smiles and hints, “But touring itself isn’t over…”

What are ticket prices?

GA Floor Standing ($267.88)
Reserved P1 – Seating ($501.35)
Reserved P2 – Seating ($400.21)
Reserved P3 – Seating ($267.88)
Reserved P4 – Seating ($140.13)
Red Zone (Standing) ($600)

Pricing includes all fees and taxes. Dynamic pricing is not in use. Over 60% of the tickets in the venue are priced at below $300.

What is the seat map?

Red Zone can be seen to the back of the GA floor and only 50 tickets will be sold to this riser area per show.
Seats in the 100’s will be the most expensive, as will the middle section of the 200’s.
Sides of the 200’s and the middle of the 300s will be the next expensive ticket.
Sides of the 300’s will be the same price as the GA tickets.
The 400’s will be the cheapest pricing.

How do I buy a ticket?

There are three ways to purchase right now:

U2.com subscriber presale
Verified fan general sale
VIP and Hotel Packages

We’ll look at each individually below.

What’s the deal with GA Tickets?

According to Ticketmaster, “In an effort to help minimize resale and keep ticket prices at face value for fans, GA floor tickets for U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere will be restricted from transfer. They may only be resold at the original purchase price. Fans will still have protection against unforeseen circ*mstances. Those who purchase tickets and are no longer able to attend their show will be able to sell their tickets at the price they paid using the Ticketmaster Face Value Exchange.”

U2.Com Subscriber Presale

The U2.com subscribers can request a ticket via “Ticketmaster Request”
You have until April 26 at 10:00 ET to submit your request for tickets
You are submitting a request for tickets, just like the old Propaganda days. You don’t get to pick individual seats and sections. You pick the price range you wish to be in and the dates you wish to try for.
You can submit for multiple dates, and multiple price ranges. You will only purchase for one show.
When choosing tickets there is no way to prioritize which section you wish to be in. If you pick two different sections, there is no way to tell the system which you would prefer.
With dates, there is a final step which allows you to sort your dates by priority. But if you pick multiple dates, you may get any of the dates that you pick, so ensure you are available for all the dates chosen, even if they are lower priority.
Other artists like Taylor Swift and Madonna have used this advance purchase system it is not new to U2.
You enter payment information and agree to a maximum charge based on the options you choose. You are not charged at this time, instead a small $1 charge may be taken to ensure card works, but the full purchase will only happen once you have confirmed tickets.
Once you have been successful at purchasing tickets you will get an email detailing how to claim your tickets.
If you want to make changes, submit a new request during the request window. It will override your original request. You can cancel a request up until Wednesday April 26 at 10AM Eastern.
Ticket confirmations will start to be sent out on Wednesday April 26.
You may request tickets to three shows, but if you get a confirmed request it will be for one show only, up to a maximum of four tickets.
There are two groups of subscribers – Ultra (longtime, paid subscribers as of 3pm EST on Feb. 12) and Violet (recent, paid subscribers after 3pm EST on Feb. 12)
Ultra subscribers will have their requests considered first, Violet subscribers will have their requests next.
During the ticket request process you must provide an email address. It must match your u2.com account. Double check what email you use as if you use the wrong one your request will fail!
With the announcement of new shows you can alter your Ticketmaster Request. For details on how to do this please see the new article at U2.com.
Altering your request will overwrite your initial request.

Verified Fan General Pre-Sale

Verified fan is a Ticketmaster program where you submit a request to buy tickets in the general sale.
If you are verified you are able to join the sale.
The program attempts to keep scalpers out of the the sales.
These sales will take place after the U2.Com subscribers presale.
You can sign up for Verified fan here: https://verifiedfan.livenation.com/u2
If demand exceeds the tickets available for the Verified fan sale, verified fans may be selected at random to participate in the sale, and not everyone may participate at the same time.
Access codes are sent via text message before the sale goes live. These codes will not work for anyone else, and must be used with the Ticketmaster account you verfied.
Verified fan sales start on Thursday April 27 at 7am PT, in order to take part you must sign up by 10:00am ET on Wednesday April 26.
If you wish to have control over your seats and what section you are in, Verified fan is the better option, but choices may be limited after the fan club presales.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 26, you’ll receive an email confirming whether you’ve been verified and whether you’ve also been selected to participate in the Verified Fan Presale. If you are verified and selected, you will also receive a text with your personal access code.
If any tickets remain following the presales, they will be made available for purchase during a General Onsale starting Friday, April 28.
With the announcement of the new dates, if you applied for Verified Fan for the first five shows, you are automatically registered for these new shows.

VIP and Hotel Packages

Two types of hotel packages are already on sale.
These are being sold by Vibee, a Live Nation company.
Hotel rooms are at The Venetian Resort, which is connected to the sphere.
Package details are available at U2.vibee.com
Concert and Hotel Package
- Includes concert ticket
- Includes a two night hotel stay
- Souvenir lanyard with exclusive laminate
VIP Concert and Hotel Package
- VIP Entry into the Sphere
- Two night hotel stay
- Private happy hour at the U2 Fan Portal
- Exclusive U2-curated gift bag with limited edition merchandise (commermorative show poster, limited-edition Songs of Surrender vinyl, and exclusive merch items)
- Complimentary entry to parties at Tao Group Nightclubs
- Commemorative fan book mailed Post-show

Can I participate via U2.com and the TM Verified Program?

Yes, you can participate in both as a U2.com subscriber you would participate in that program first and then the TM Verified program. Ticketmaster does have a limitation in place however, stating in their FAQ “To allow as many fans as possible the chance to buy tickets, fans may purchase a maximum of four (4) tickets to one (1) event” between the two programs.

What is the Fan Portal

The U2:UV Fan Portal is described as an “immersive exhibit and pop up shop”
VIP ticket buyers will have exclusive access to a private happy hour at the Fan Portal, which includes a film screening and private shopping session.
VIP guests also bypass any line for the Fan Portal allowing more time to “browse the interactive art, band artifacts, and pick up exclusive merch items not available anywhere else.”
The Fan Portal sounds like it will be open to all, not just ticket holders, or VIP ticket holders, but at times will be closed so only VIP ticket holders can enter.

Where else can I find information?

Please have a look through the links and information below for additional information on the U2 performances at the Sphere…

U2:UV Trailer and Zane Lowe Interview

Press About the Sphere

2023-04-24 Rolling Stone interview with The Edge
2023-04-24 Variety interview with The Edge
2023-04-24 Live Nation Press Release

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