Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) of seating, very high up, esp. in an auditorium or sports stadium; also as n.

1948		Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) 25 Nov. 25/2: George Solotaire, the ticket broker [...] was asked by a customer for seats in the second balcony. ‘’, Solotaire replied, ‘do not handle nose-bleeders’.
1950		E. Wilson 8 Feb. [synd. col.] HGentleman Georgie Solotaire describes balcony seats in theaters as ‘nose-bleeders’.
1978		Wash. Post (Nexis) 17 Jan. D 1: From the nose-bleed altitude of section 209, the Red Coats marveled.
1980		Indianapolis Star 30 May 24/1: Moving the stage [...] and cordoning the ‘nosebleed seats’ off with a heavy curtain.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 320: We can only get tickets for the nose-bleed seats, [...] remote from the stage.
2002		J. Ridley Drift (2003) 146: A baseball fan who’d worked his way down from the nosebleed seats to the lower boxes.
2002		Tom Petty ‘Money Becomes King’ 🎵 And way up in the nosebleeds / We watched him on the screen.
2004		Mad mag. Aug. 54: Whenever he takes you to a concert you can bet your sweet ass you’ll be in the nosebleed section.