Breaking Waves: Upcoming Shows and Pre-Sales

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2023-05-06)

This week Bono finishes off his run at The Beacon Theatre with two additional shows, as well as filming a performance on Tuesday afternoon. Late last month an offer via the Fan Club offered subscribers a chance to apply to be in the audience for the filming via 1iota.

There appears to be a lot of confusion right now surrounding tickets for that filmed performance.

  • People being emailed to add their phone number to their 1iota account even though they already have a phone number listed.
  • People are receiving different communication, some are receiving a second email from the Beacon confirming tickets, other have not received this email although they have recieved an initial email saying they have reserved tickets.
  • Some fans who signed up via 1iota when offered through the fan club have never gotten off the wait list at all but the event now appears to be soliciting attendees via their website, outside of the U2 fan club.
  • Text messages which are expected to confirm tickets are said to be coming out tomorrow, but for now there appears to be a lot of confusion around this event.

While we can’t offer any advice beyond making sure your phone number is up-to-date in your 1iota account, and waiting for the text messages to arrive, we wanted to share that others are trying to figure out what is going on as well.

Doors on Tuesday for the filmed show are listed to open at 12:30, and the communication says that showtime will be 2:00pm for those who have not received that communication. This is not an evening show, it will happen in the afternoon. Expect it not to be a continuous show as they may have to stop and restart to get shots. For those that are going it looks like it will be quite a unique experience. Heads up, they are asking for people attending to wear comfortable shoes, and NOT to wear hats, any clothing with logos, no bright colours, and nothing that is solid white.

Later in the week, Bono will also be performing in Naples. This event will also be filmed. That venue is the Teatro San Carlo, an opera house in Naples, capacity 1386. The venue is the oldest opera house in the world, opened in 1737. Attendees are being asked to wear more formal attire to match the atmosphere of the venue.

The filming of the shows at the Beacon and at Teatro San Carlo will be used to document this tour. At this time it is not known if one show, or both will be used, but the film will air on a streaming service soon. Expect an announcement of more details this summer about where you will be able to watch this from home.

Also stirring up some commotion this week is all things relating to the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Twelve dates were originally available in the fan pre sale. Fans could choose between September 29, 30, and October 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, and 25. Many fans however, were left without tickets, and U2.com have sent out emails yesterday, confirming that those who tried for tickets in the initial on sale for these twelve shows will be given another chance.

The email detailed, “ we can now confirm that a number of tickets for U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere have been reserved exclusively for our long-time ‘Ultra Priority Group’ of U2.com Subscribers.” (An Ultra Priority subscriber is one that subscribed before the Super Bowl Ad aired on February 12. The cut off was noon that day.)

The system in use is the same as it was originally. Fans get to pick and prioritize up to five different shows. You can also choose between different seating levels, including GA. U2.com share that tickets are limited and fans should be as flexible as possible when picking dates and ticket options. Not all pricing options are available. The most expensive P1 ticket is not an option for many of these shows, and GA is not available for the first night in your choices.

This time out, they’ve confirmed when people will be notified about tickets. Thursday, May 11 at 8:59PM PT / 11:59PM ET will be the latest time that fans will be notified.

Not everyone is receiving the email. It seems to have been sent only to Ultra subscribers, who were unsuccessful in the earlier U2.com ticket sale (Not the verified fan sale). If you think you should have received one and have not, your best place to seek help is at U2.com via the Zootopia forum or through the help page at U2.com/help.

If you are trying out this offer, please remember to include the email address tied to your U2.com account when submitting your choices. If you do not, your request will not be successful. Requests can be submitted until 7AM PT / 10AM ET on Monday.

When the shows went on sale last week, five additional shows were put on sale on Thursday while the verified fan sale was happening. Tickets for these have been on sale since that time. There was no option for a U2.com pre-sale at that time, and this new option mentioned above does not include these five dates.

These dates are October 27, 28, and November 1, 3, 4.

The email from U2.com yesterday did mention these five shows, sharing, “If you decide not to submit a ticket request at this time in order to wait for the upcoming Ultra / Violet subscriber presale for the final five shows, we cannot guarantee that your ticket request for those final shows will be successful. That presale will be open to ALL U2.com subscribers who have not yet purchased tickets and we anticipate there will be a lot of demand on the available inventory.” No further details were provided, but it looks like fans will have an opportunity to try for tickets for those five shows via U2.com, but only if you have not yet purchased tickets.

No further information is available at this time, but keep an eye on U2.com/help, and your email for further information on these additional shows.

Finally, fans spotted three other shows were listed on the VIP platform Vibee. These three shows, November 8, 10 and 11, would be the final weekend that the Sphere would be available for U2’s performances. The following weekend the Sphere is expected to be inaccessible due to the F1 race in Las Vegas.

Are these shows going to happen? The packages were first seen on Thursday during the verified fan sale, although at that time you could not purchase packages. They were taken down, and were never officially announced. Again on Sunday, fans could see these, and some fans reported they could even purchase packages.

It does appear at this time that these shows may not happen. The email communication and help page at U2.com both clearly call the five shows added the “final shows”. The help page states, “There will be an additional presale for the final five shows, which take place on October 27 and 28 and November 1,3 and 4.”

At this time these three shows remain unannounced, and although it looks like VIP packages were ready to be sold, these shows have yet to be announced. Communication from U2.com calling the currently announced shows the “final shows” means it doesn’t look good for these final three shows to be added.

Looking for help with tickets to The Sphere:

< Next News Entry | Previous News Entry >

u2songs.com was formerly known as u2wanderer.org. Follow us on Twitter | Facebook