Bono has a message for U2’s wealthiest fans: The band is happy to take your money.
“We also have no problem separating rich people from their money,” the U2 frontman said on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast in an episode released Oct. 17. “You know, as we say, rich people have feelings, too. If they want to pay very high prices, we’ve no problem.”
But Bono, 66, also made a rarer admission for a rock star about to launch a stadium tour: Many fans are probably overpaying. “If they’re in America, we want people to feel really good about the choice to pay a ticket—and probably pay too much for it—to see us,” he said, as Business Insider first highlighted.
The comments come as U2 opens presales for its Greatest Show on Earth world tour, which kicks off Feb. 23 in Mexico City. The band was also just named the halftime act for the NFL’s first Thanksgiving Eve game, which streams on Netflix on Nov. 25.
U2 says it keeps the best seats cheap
Asked how much control the band has over ticket prices, Bono said “very little.” What U2 can do, he said, is protect the most coveted spots. “What we do in our band is we take the best seats in the house—we’ve done this all our life—and make sure that they’re often the most affordable,” he said.
That approach goes back decades. When U2 announced its Vertigo//2005 tour, the band said general admission floor tickets, pitched as offering the best view in the house at the lowest price, would cost $49.50 in North America, plus service fees.
Other artists have tried similar moves. Olivia Rodrigo, for example, set aside $20 tickets for her GUTS tour, though it was unclear how many were available.
From $140 to more than $1,500
The gap between U2’s cheapest and priciest tickets has grown since 2005. For the band’s 2023–24 residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, tickets started at $140 including taxes and fees, according to Sphere Entertainment. The band said 60% of tickets would be priced under $300, alongside a limited number of premium seats. General admission floor tickets could not be transferred and could be resold only at face value, a rule meant to curb scalping.
At the top end, seats in the residency’s (RED) Zone sold for $600, according to Las Vegas station KLAS. The (RED) Zone was a VIP riser near the stage, and part of the proceeds went to the anti-AIDS organization Bono co-founded.
Pricing for the 2027 tour follows the same tiered model. In São Paulo, base prices before online fees range from R$500 (about $100) for a “Fan Ticket” to R$7,547 (about $1,510) for an Ultimate VIP Hospitality package, TicketNews reports, citing Ticketmaster Brazil. The Fan Ticket buyer’s spot in the stadium isn’t revealed until show day. General admission floor tickets cost R$790 (about $158). North American and European dates have been promised but not yet announced.
Why concert tickets keep getting more expensive
Artists, promoters, venues, and ticketing platforms all take a cut of each ticket. But much of fans’ anger has landed on Ticketmaster.
In April, a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary illegally maintained monopoly power. The jury also found that Ticketmaster overcharged fans $1.72 per ticket.
33 states and the District of Columbia brought the case to a verdict after the Justice Department struck a settlement a week into the trial. The states are now seeking to break up the company. Live Nation has said the verdict is “not the last word” and that it will appeal any unfavorable rulings. (For more on what the verdict means, read Fortune’s analysis.)
Ticketmaster also faces a separate lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission and seven states. That suit alleges Ticketmaster knowingly let brokers use thousands of accounts to get around ticket limits, then profited when those tickets were resold on its own marketplace. According to the complaint, an internal review found that just five brokers controlled 6,345 Ticketmaster accounts holding 246,407 tickets.
A federal judge refused to dismiss the case last month. In an Oct. 13 filing, Live Nation called the suit “misguided.”
Dynamic pricing, in which prices rise with demand, has drawn criticism too. Ticketmaster has long said artists and promoters set those prices. The issue drew government scrutiny in the U.K. after Oasis reunion tickets surged well past their advertised price.
What Bono didn’t say is how many cheap seats near the stage U2 actually offers. TicketNews notes that low-priced allocations like Brazil’s Fan Tickets are often small and tend to sell out early in a sale. That leaves most fans choosing between full price and the resale market.