MUSIC:

U2 tickets for Las Vegas show on sale now — with a catch

Fans can buy tickets early if they pay to register on Web site

By Melissa Arseniuk (contact)

Published Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 3:39 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | 8:59 p.m.

U2

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U2.com

Membership has its benefits, especially if you’re a diehard U2 fan.

Tickets for the band’s Oct. 23 show at the Sam Boyd Stadium don’t go on sale publicly until Saturday, but members of the band’s online fan club were given advance access to tickets this morning.

U2.com’s premium “Horizon” members were first able to purchase tickets today at 10 a.m. this morning. “Breathe” and “Boots” members, meanwhile, will have to wait until tomorrow to get their hands on some advance seats.

“Breathe” members get first dibs at 7 a.m. Wednesday, while “Boots” members won’t be able to purchase anything until 3 p.m.

You can also buy your way into a seven-hour presale. For $50, fans can buy a year’s membership to U2.com and gain access to day three of advance sales on Thursday.

The new member presale is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.

In addition to a two-day lead on the general ticket sales, new members will also get access to a members-only area of the site featuring exclusive videos, enhanced archives, interviews, and members-only message boards; a U2.com e-mail address; and a double CD featuring new, rare, and remastered tracks.

(Note: Membership activation can take up to 48 hours, so if you want to get in on Thursday’s new member presale, the time is now. Each new member can buy up to four tickets.)

Those unwilling or unable to shell out the $50 extra bucks, however, will have to wait until Saturday to try their luck at scoring seats to see the supergroup and their three-time Grammy Award-winning opening act, The Black Eyed Peas.

UNLVtickets (UNLVtickets.com or 1-877-522-8499) will open the floodgates to the remaining tickets at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The North American leg of the U2 “360” tour will make 20 stops across the continent, starting with the first of two shows in Chicago on Sept 12 and concluding in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Oct. 28.

NOTE: The original version of this story stated presale tickets to U2's Oct 23 performance are being sold through Ticketmaster, which was what was stated on both U2 and Ticketmaster's Web sites. However, UNLVtickets is handling both the presale and public sale of the tickets.

Discussion: 19 comments so far…

By stevem

4/14/09 at 4:50 p.m.

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i've seen u2 on every tour since 1988...

going to skip this one.

this album is a stinker. notice you haven't heard anything on the radio since "get on your boots"?

and the black eyed pees? you'd have to pay ME to go to that show!
By skemp311

4/14/09 at 5:07 p.m.

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Here's a presale code for FREE:

http://ev2.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3...

enter the presale code: ONEU2

and you can buy tickets right now.
By Rob Miech (Staff)

4/14/09 at 6:56 p.m.

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Sweet access skemp! thanks
By doubledown_deadender

4/15/09 at 9:33 a.m.

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I hope Bono has earmarked some of that $50 cover charge just to TRY and get a ticket...To the poor AIDS babies of AFRICA.

I sure do.
By Hingreed

4/15/09 at 9:47 a.m.

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Thank you Skemp! I bought these tickets just now using your code! I've been waiting a long time to see U2. I'm surprised that the pre-sale tickets didn't sell out. Also, I called to find out when the tickets will be delivered and I was told that they will be sent about a month before the show.

~Hingreed~
By rumrunner

4/15/09 at 11:04 a.m.

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I saw them when they played off the roof in cali. was fortunate enough to be working almost across the street. since then there music stinks! And to be very honest,how much do all these old aged bands need to charge to see the same ol thing? concerts were fun when you thought you were the only one "sneaking" stuff in,untill you smelled it? Now all you smell is ben-gay..................
By Dsousa

4/15/09 at 12:26 p.m.

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Tickets for the Las Vegas show will be sold by UNLVtickets not Ticketmaster.
Tickets will be available at UNLVtickets.com or by calling 1-877-522-8499.
By johnr507

4/15/09 at 3:52 p.m.

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I'm driving from Denver to see them . . . again.
Can anyone tell me where SECTION 2 is? It's not on any seating chart.
By melissa (Staff)

4/15/09 at 9:31 p.m.

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I'd like to thank Dsousa (the media coordinator at the Thomas & Mack Center, Sam Boyd Stadium and Cox Pavilion) for the clarification.

Despite what Tickmaster and U2 have listed on their Web sites, UNLVtickets is handling the sale, NOT Ticketmaster.

Hopefully Tickemaster can correct this problem quickly. It's pretty confusing.

I just called Ticketmaster and the CSR I spoke with said that while he could see the Oct. 23 U2 show in his system, the listing contained no information regarding ticket sales.

He said this was "really weird" since their system tends to list events that they currently are (or will soon be) selling tickets for.

He couldn't give me a straight answer, yes or no, if they would be selling tickets for U2's Oct. 23 date in Vegas.

I'm going to guess that means "no."

In summary: UNLVtickets is the place to go if you want to (hopefully) get seats for the this fall's U2/Black Eyed Peas show at Sam Boyd. The public sale date and time hasn't changed; it's still Saturday, April 18, at 10 a.m.

Sorry for the confusion.
By kenoja

4/16/09 at 2:24 a.m.

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Got my four tickets today online at u2.com at 3:16pm.
See you at the show!
By saintsubversive

4/16/09 at 1:05 p.m.

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StevenM: I love the new album, as do many U2 fans. As far as only hearing "Boots" on the radio, turn it on May 1st and youll be hearing "Magnificent", the brilliant new single which will be released on that day. "Boots" is one of the worst things theyve ever released, and its unfortunate that "Magnificent" wasnt the first single, it would have spared them alot of well deserved mocking.

As for the U2 "presale" code schtick (where you have to pay an additional $50 to join their site and get access to it), all its going to do is make the scalper profit margin that much larger, while keeping alot of us who cant afford $300 for a ticket in the rafters from going. Ive been wanting to see them since the 80s (especially ZooTV), and was hoping this would be the tour that Id finally be able to do it. But from the way it looks, I wont be able to go, since by the time the "public" gets a first chance at them Saturday morning, the only tickets left will be in the nosebleed section, and if I want to watch the band on a large video monitor, I can do that at home.
By saintsubversive

4/16/09 at 7:10 p.m.

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Okay, its official, Im going too! Ill be on the floor somewhere, as close to the stage as I can manage. Its costing me $150 (presale), but I cant resist. Ive been wanting to see them for too long to pass up this opportunity, and a reasonably close ticket to the stage for $150 is fair enough for what is probably my favorite band of all time. Achtung Las Vegas, Baby!

So, Ill see ya there! :)

Don Alex
Dayton, Nevada
By saintsubversive

4/16/09 at 8:19 p.m.

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By the way, chances are many people who wait and get their tickets in the first few minutes after they go public on Saturday morning will probably be able to get floor tickets for $100 each, as hopefully they will have many of them saved back so that scalpers cant do a run on all of them thru the pre-sale. Im just paying the extra bit for insurance ... Im not taking a chance on missing out this time, and the 360 stage will be a true marvel to behold. Expect a very fast sellout on Saturday, so act quickly!
By saintnolan

4/17/09 at 9:25 a.m.

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Man..who are these people dogging on u2?? are you kidding me?? The album is amazing...every major source has given it great reviews (Rolling Stone, Blender, Spin etc...) You people are "stuck in a moment, and you cant get out of it!" The album is still in the top 5 after weeks of release because it is so good!! A true U2 Classic. Way to go boys, keep chopping down the Joshua Tree!!
By saintsubversive

4/18/09 at 5:19 p.m.

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I agree (my fellow Saint lol), especially someone who's seen them on every tour for two decades (unlike those of us who have just dreamed of seeing them for that long). At the very least, all U2 fans should find SOME of the songs desirable, its like a retrospective of every sound and genre theyve ever dabbled in over the years (and theyve dabbled in many). For me, its the return to the Eno ambient experimentalism, "Unforgettable Fire" is close to being my favorite U2 album of all time (if only it had "Three Sunrises" instead of the almost unlistenable "Elvis Presley and America", it would be).

I hope they drop a few old overworked warhorses like "Where the Streets Have No Name" from the set this year (which I never thought sounded very good in its live version anyway) and maybe play Acrobat and some other lesser-known but beloved U2 songs.
By stevem

4/18/09 at 6:44 p.m.

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if you have never seen u2...go. they're getting up there in years and unlike cher and the rolling stones, i think they know when it's time to stop and bono seems to be having trouble hitting the high notes.

i also love the fact on the last tour they threw in "zoo station", a non-single track that is one of my favorites.

i've seen them enough times to not justify the expense of a ticket, well, 2 tickets to snag a date with a hot asian girl, to hear them play new songs i don't like.

the current album, at this very moment is at #20 on the itunes chart. right above the "slumdog millionaire" soundtrack at #21.

now, of course we all know that sales does not equal quality. the fact the review-journal has 140,000 subscribers is proof of that ( snap! ), but this album just isn't that good and the sales are reflecting that.

even a one-week stint on letterman couldn't boost the sales numbers. it's a dud.

and for real...who still subscribes to a newspaper? do you read it by the light of your wood-burning stove?
By saintsubversive

4/19/09 at 9:13 a.m.

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Steve: I cant fault your logic at all, or for that matter your negative feelings about the new album. Though I personally like it alot (along with many other U2 fans), I also personally did NOT like either of the previous U2 albums before it (unlike many other U2 fans that love them). I didnt try to go to those tours for the exact reasons you state about this one, because I couldnt see paying that kind of money to hear them play songs from albums that I didnt like. So that makes perfect sense to me.

As for the albums sales, Id just point out that "Boots" was truly a terrible choice for a first single (and shouldnt even be on the album at all in my opinion), and it turned off many people to the extent that they havent even bothered to listen to the entire CD yet (much less to buy a copy of it). I predict that when "Magnificent" is released as a single on May 1st, youll see the album go back up in the sales chart. Besides, when "popular" equals an album by a chubby "American Idol" contestant that opens with a song that is named (incredibly) "My Life Would Suck Without You", Im not sure Id even want the new U2 album to be a mass seller.
By SarahSmith

8/26/09 at 3:55 a.m.

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Tickets prices can be compare before via this
http://www.ticketwood.com/u2/