Will The Shows At The Sphere Be The Hardest-To-Get Phish Tickets Ever?

The demand for tickets to Phish’s four shows at Sphere Las Vegas in April 2024 rivals previous highly anticipated concerts in the band’s 40 year history. While past demand was driven by the ending of a hiatus (self- or pandemic-imposed), a once-in-a-millennium festival event, atypically small capacity venues or other compounding factors, it is the state-of-the-art concert experience the Sphere promises that made the shows can’t-miss for the band’s devoted fanbase.

“From the moment we first heard about Sphere and its potential, we’ve been dreaming up ways to bring our show to this breathtaking canvas,” Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio said. “We’re thrilled to present this completely unique experience to Phish fans.”

Phish is the second band to announce Sphere shows, joining U2 whose ongoing residency began in November and will continue through a 40th performance in March 2024. After much speculation, on November 30, Phish confirmed their Sphere debut will take place across four shows, held on April 18 – 21.

As usual, at the time of the announcement, a request period got underway for Phish Tickets By Mail that remained open through December 11. The pre-sale request window length was typical of a full Phish tour, but a bit longer than their similar four-night New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden, which was limited to six days.

Phish PTBM Sphere tickets were priced in three tiers:

• General Admission Floor (Standing) & P1 Reserved Seating — $195.74 ($161.50 + $19.70 fee + $14.54 tax)
• P2 Reserved Seating — $148.56 ($119.50 + $18.30 fee + $10.76 tax)
• P3 Reserved Seating — $117.14 ($91.50 + $17.40 fee + $8.24 tax)

Comparatively, here’s a breakdown of Ticketmaster face value ticket price tiers (with fees and taxes included) for U2 Sphere concerts:

• General Admission Floor (Standing) — $267.88
• P1 Reserved Seating — $501.35
• P2 Reserved Seating — $400.21
• P3 Reserved Seating — $267.88
• P4 Reserved Seating — $140.13
• Red Zone (Standing) — $600

In addition to U2’s residency, the Sphere Experience is currently offered through multiple daily screenings of director Darren Aronofsky’s visually stunning film, Postcard From Earth. Tickets to attend a Postcard From Earth screening are priced between $98 and $258 (including fees and taxes).

Sphere’s seated capacity is 17,500 and with an additional 2,500 standing room tickets available, reaches a maximum capacity of 20,000 people. Some Sphere tickets are labeled limited or obstructed view.

Watch this video clip to take a tour of the various seating levels Sphere offers:

The day after Phish’s Sphere announcement, an array of Travel Packages with tickets and hotel accommodations went on sale, and by the end of the day had completely sold out. Travel packages were offered at four different resorts and ranged from $1,314.50 to $2,139.50 per person. Here’s the breakdown of what was offered in the bundles:

“Travel Packages include a 4-night hotel stay, show tickets for all four nights, plus one merchandise gift per person. Travel package options can accommodate two, four, six or eight guests per night. For every two guests, you’ll receive one hotel room for four nights.”

Contributing to the high demand for tickets was Phish’s announcement that the four shows in April will be the band’s only performances at the Sphere in 2024. While Phish’s four shows at Sphere in April are only 10% of the number of shows U2 will perform between November 2023 and March 2024 as part of their U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At The Sphere residency, Phish will take a separate approach, with each of their concerts featuring different audio and visual presentations.

According to at least one source, another indicator of the demand for Phish Sphere tickets was the volume of requests submitted during the pre-sale lottery window.

“I was told today that the data shows that the Sphere for Phish has had the most lottery requests of any Phish show ever,” Benjy Eisen said on the Wook+ podcast.

The pre-sales generated enough demand that before tickets went on sale to the general public on Friday, December 15, Ticketmaster posted a warning that read:

“Due to high demand during presales, ticket availability is extremely limited for today’s onsale. NOTE: Limited View seating will be available.”

When tickets went on sale at 1 p.m. ET, reports soon started to flood social media indicating massively large waiting room queues.

Within minutes of the on sale, Ticketmaster’s inventory indicated all four Phish Sphere shows had sold out. With many shut out of the PTBM lottery and unable to secure tickets through a Travel Package or the Ticketmaster on sale, those still looking for tickets can look to the secondary market.

As of publication time, here’s a breakdown of lowest price ticket listings (including fees/taxes) on Stubhub for each of Phish’s shows at Sphere, as well as four-day passes:

April 18 — 490 Listings

• $580 (Limited or Obstructed View)
• $802 (Clear View)

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April 19 — 406 Listings

• $708 (Limited or Obstructed View)
• $978 (Clear View)

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April 20 — 406 Listings

• $927 (Limited or Obstructed View)
• $978 (Clear View)

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April 21 — 526 Listings

• $584 (Limited or Obstructed View)
• $672 (Clear View)

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Sphere 4-Show Passes — 27 Listings

• $7,803 (Limited or Obstructed View)
• $4,600 (Clear View)

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Tickets starting at $134.30 (fees included) are available on Ticketmaster for three of four of Phish’s upcoming New Year’s run concerts at Madison Square Garden, though only Charity Premium priced tickets (ranging $369.35 to $552.25) remain for December 31. Select four-night MSG tickets remain and are priced at $543.05.

Compared to the 20,000 capacity Sphere shows, here’s a similar breakdown of Stubhub listings (as of publication time, with fees/taxes included) for Phish’s upcoming four-show New Year’s Eve run on December 28 – 31 at Madison Square Garden, which has a capacity of 19,500 people:

December 28 — 1,225 Listings

• $85

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December 29 — 1,056 Listings

• $79

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December 30 — 752 Listings

• $87

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December 31 — 512 Listings

• $100

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MSG 4-Show Passes — 108 Listings

• $393

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Based on the secondary market, demand for Phish Sphere tickets was driven at least in part by resellers who secured tickets and quickly listed them well above face value. The high average cost of Phish Sphere tickets on the secondary market certainly makes it too expensive for many fans to attend the concerts.

Phish’s pricing for their Sphere concerts, despite higher than some other recent shows, was closer to the cost of MSG New Year’s run tickets than it was to the price of U2 Sphere tickets. There are currently more listings on Stubhub for Phish’s April 21 Sphere show (526 listings) than there are for the band’s New Year’s Eve show on December 31 (512 listings).

So, as the headline of this article asks, will the shows at the Sphere be the hardest Phish tickets ever? Given the comparable and sizable number of listings on the secondary market, the answer to that question is “no” — just as long as you’re willing to pay well above the already high face value price.

The rising cost of concert tickets is something affecting the entire music industry, not just Phish. The Wall Street Journal dubbed 2023 “The Year of the $1,000 Concert Ticket”, and while Phish face value tickets have not reached that level (save for a few Platinum Tickets), the band — and its fans — are not immune to the rising expense that comes with attending a concert of a major touring act.

One platform that can be an alternative to ticket resellers like Stubhub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats is CashorTrade, who have been helping community members “Embrace The Face” for +13 years. Sign up for the service free or “Go Gold” to take full advantage of CashorTrade’s offerings. CashorTrade facilitates face value ticket reselling and ticket trading. CoT users can also post “in search of” requests for tickets to specific shows. At press time, there are currently two listings for Phish Sphere tickets (both are Platinum Tickets).