Bruce Springsteen Fans Furious at Ticket Prices Going as High as $4-5K, Due to Ticketmaster's 'Dynamic Pricing'

Fans of Bruce Springsteen had a rude awakening this week, faced with the new normal in ticket prices every bit shows for the U.S. dates... Bruce Springsteen Fans Furious Over Outrageous Ticket Prices

Fans of Bruce Springsteen had a rude awakening this week, faced with the new normal in ticket prices every bit shows for the U.S. dates on his 2023 bout went on auction Wednesday. Surged prices, weaponized by the "dynamic" and "platinum" ticket pricing systems put in identify past Ticketmaster and Live Nation, were the norm for the fans who made it through the Verified Fan organization for the first shows that went on auction Midweek.

Some tickets were going for as much as $5,000, with many seats well above $1K each for The Boss, who is touring the U.South. with the E Street Band for the first fourth dimension since 2017 offset in February. And this is non on secondary markets – this is from the box office itself, which is the new "scalper" by any reasonable measure.

"So I finally got in to Ticketmaster to go some Springsteen tickets, and that motherf****r is out of his mind," says Bigheads Podcast Network founder John Palumbo in a video posted to Twitter, typical of the reaction across the spectrum of fans in the last 24 hours. "I mean, ticket prices were outrageous. I mean, information technology had to go from like $700 to $three,000 bucks, and not fifty-fifty for great seats. And listen, I'k rich, and I remember that's f**kin crazy."

No gamble Boss. (123 shows aaaand…done). #Springsteen #music #Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/yXrzu5CdK6

— John Palumbo (@PalumboLand) July 20, 2022

There were a litany of responses to a posting past Springsteen fan mag Backstreets on twitter, which featured a screenshot of "Verified Fan Official Platinum" seats for a show in Tampa for a mid-tier floor seat with an asking price of $4,388.50 afterward fees, and a quote from Ticketmaster's website explaining what platinum pricing means, saying "Tampa mid-floor for $4,400 each, anyone? #catchandrelease." And most of those responses seem to have grasped the fact that the artists themselves have decided to gouge their fans, fattening upward their ain and Ticketmaster'due south bottom line, helping contribute to Live Nation's record run of earnings on its manner out of the pandemic.

Ticketmaster Bruce Springsteen ticket prices tweet

Bruce Springsteen ticket prices reaction tweet

The reaction was strong enough that Stevie Van Zandt, guitarist in the E Street Band (also known for portraying Silvio Dante on HBO's Soprano's TV series) was pulled in to respond to some of the fans' anger, washing his hands of the entire subject. "I have nothing whatever to do with the toll of tickets," he tweeted in respond to a fan's tagging him in a question about the prices. "Nothing. Cipher. Niente. Bubkis. Dick."

I have nothing whatsoever to practice with the toll of tickets. Naught. Cypher. Niente. Bubkis. Dick. https://t.co/NsDJvoLMWu

— 🕉Stevie Van Zandt☮️ (@StevieVanZandt) July 20, 2022

The prices being charged may exist offensive to many of The Bosses most defended (at least, defended enough to be "verified" for a hazard to buy tickets to his shows by Ticketmaster's algorythm) fans, simply they shouldn't really surprise anyone. Ticket prices have been surged to absolutely unprecedented levels by artists and promoters coming out of the long COVID intermission on shows. Instead of tickets being offered at a traditional "confront value" amount, with some portion grabbed by those interested in selling on the secondary market place at inflated prices, the unabridged industry has been flipped by Live Nation and Ticketmaster into 1 where the "scalpers" are the creative person and promoters themselves.

In the mail-COVID ticketing globe, the pricing game follows a pretty standard pattern for large tours like Springsteens (or Adele's, or The Weeknd's, or even Olivia Rodrigo's).

Use the Verified Fan system to force fans to pre-annals for the initial ticket purchasing opportunity. This grants the artist and promoter's team enormous amounts of data in terms of who is buying, what their past purchasing history is, and what prices they might be willing to pay. It also forces the concept of high demand on the ticket buying public.
Hand-pick who yous're willing to "verify" to further heighten the idea that need is enormous.
When those who accept been deemed worthy of verification show up, utilise your pricing arrangement to maximize how much is being charged for every seat in the house, either by making them outright "platinum" tickets that are finer what the promoter believes will be charged on the secondary market (typically the most sought-after seats in each department, from the prime center on the floor to the first few rows of every lower and upper-level area of the loonshit or stadium), or by surge-pricing when demand is high, relying on the perception that tickets won't be available at all if they don't click to purchase right abroad.

This system was famously used during the Taylor Swift reputation tour a few years back, when "Swift Tix" was used to exploit fan need and reap huge sums for the singer and her promoter. It used the above playbook (with the extra exploitation of fans being able to "boost" their chances of beingness "verified" by buying tour merch or music). Fans felt the sting of the loftier prices, but largely bought anyways. Then, the reality of the demand not existence anywhere near the creative person and her team had made it seem became very real as shows approached – price drops became ticket giveaways, and the artist's team got tickets listed for resale – many likely by the vocaliser'southward ain fans who couldn't make the show – taken down, in order to proceed them from competing from remaining tickets for auction from the box office.

It was a debacle, but information technology has now become standard operating procedure in the industry, and the source of Live Nation's fatty bottom line of late.

That Bruce Springsteen and the Eastward Street Band's tour dates in 2023 are being sold in this fashion really shouldn't be a shock at all. Springsteen himself has long been known every bit an artist who exploited the ticket holdback procedure to movement tickets at market prices through the secondary ticketing earth while pretending the box function face value was the price they would be sold at. Verified Fan was used for Springsteen on Broadway (his fans hated information technology), and ticket prices were astronomical – specially when one figures that the dollars were being carve up in far fewer directions than a full band tour.

Unfortunately for fans, this new normal in ticket pricing is likely to stick around – at least until fans push back difficult plenty for artists to actually listen to them over the dollar signs being dangled in front of them by Ticketmaster and Live Nation when pricing strategies for tours are being decided. Even the Dominate Act – introduced by members of Congress from New Jersey with an acronym based off of Mr. Springsteen himself – has been stalled in several attempts at the federal level by Live Nation's massive lobbying dollar, wouldn't direct address dynamic ticket pricing processes if it were passed – just require that artists and promoters be transparent nigh the fees up front end.

Will fans of The Boss exist able to lead the charge confronting the massive inflation going on in ticketing correct now? Just time will tell.

For now, it's likely that the best bargain on Springsteen 2023 bout tickets might actually be on ticket resale markets. Ticket buy links and total tour details are included below:

Bruce Springsteen and the Eastward Street Ring Ticket Links

Tickets at MEGAseats.com | No Service Charge/Free Shipping – 10% Off Using Lawmaking TICKETNEWS
Tickets at Event Tickets Centre
Tickets at Gametime
Tickets at ScoreBig
Tickets at StubHub
Tickets at Ticket Club | Complimentary 1-Year Membership Offer Using Code TICKETNEWS
Tickets at Ticketmaster Uk
Tickets at TicketNetwork
Tickets at TicketSmarter

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Tour Dates – 2023

N America – Leg one (on auction dates in parentheses)

Feb. one – Tampa, FL | Amalie Arena (Wed 7/20)
Feb. three – Atlanta, GA | Country Farm Arena (Wednesday 7/27)
Feb. 5 – Orlando, FL | Amway Center (Wed 7/20)
Feb. 7 – Hollywood, FL | Hard Stone Live (Midweek 7/20)
February. 10 – Dallas, TX | American Airlines Eye (Fri 7/22)
February. 14 – Houston, TX | Toyota Centre (Fri 7/22)
Feb. 16 – Austin, TX | Moody Heart (Fri 7/22)
Feb. 18 – Kansas City, MO | T-Mobile Center (Wed 7/27)
Feb. 21 – Tulsa, OK | BOK Eye (Wednesday 7/xx)
Feb. 25 – Portland, OR | Moda Center (Friday 7/22)
Feb. 27 – Seattle, WA | Climate Pledge Arena (Wed 7/27)
Mar. ii – Denver, CO | Ball Arena (Wed 7/20)
Mar. v – St. Paul, MN | Xcel Energy Centre (Thu 7/21)
Mar. vii – Milwaukee, WI | Fiserv Forum (Wed vii/27)
Mar. 9 – Columbus, OH | Nationwide Arena (Wed 7/27)
Mar. 12 – Uncasville, CT | Mohegan Sunday (Fri seven/22)
Mar. 14 – Albany, NY | MVP Arena (Fri vii/22)
Mar. 16 – Philadelphia, PA | Wells Fargo Centre (Tue vii/26)
Mar. xviii – Land Higher, PA | Bryce Jordan Center (Tue vii/26)
Mar. 20 – Boston, MA | TD Garden (Wed 7/20)
Mar. 23 – Buffalo, NY | KeyBank Center (Wed 7/27)
Mar. 25 – Greensboro, NC | Greensboro Coliseum (Fri 7/22)
Mar. 27 – Washington, D.C. | Capital 1 Arena (Tue 7/26)
Mar. 29 – Detroit, MI | Little Caesars Loonshit (Wednesday vii/27)
April. 1 – New York, NY | Madison Foursquare Garden (Fri 7/29)
Apr. iii – Brooklyn, NY | Barclays Center (Fri seven/29)
Apr. 5 – Cleveland, OH | Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Wed 7/27)
Apr. seven – Baltimore, MD | Baltimore Loonshit (Tue 7/26)
Apr. ix – Belmont Park, NY | UBS Arena (Fri vii/29)
April. eleven – Belmont Park, NY | UBS Arena (Friday seven/29)
Apr. xiv – Newark, NJ | Prudential Middle (Fri 7/29)

Europe and the Great britain (Uk dates in bold – on sale this week, EU dates already on sale)

April 28, 2023 – Barcelona, Espana | Estadi Olímpic
April 30, 2023 – Barcelona, Spain | Estadi Olímpic
May 5, 2023 – Dublin, Republic of ireland | RDS Arena
May 7, 2023 – Dublin, Republic of ireland | RDS Loonshit
May 9, 2023 – Dublin, Ireland | RDS Arena
May 13, 2023 – Paris, France | La Défense Arena
May 15, 2023 – Paris, France | La Défense Loonshit
May 18, 2023 – Ferrara, Italy | Parco Urbano Yard. Bassani
May 21, 2023 – Rome, Italian republic | Circo Massimo
May 25, 2023 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Johan Cruijff Arena
May 27, 2023 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Johan Cruijff Loonshit
May xxx – Edinburgh | BT Murrayfield Stadium
June eleven, 2023 – Landgraaf, The Netherlands | Megaland
June xiii, 2023 – Zurich, Switzerland | Stadion Letzigrund
June sixteen – Birmingham | Villa Park
June eighteen, 2023 – Werchter, Belgium | Festivalpark Werchter
June 21, 2023 – Düsseldorf, Germany | Merkur Spiel Loonshit
June 24, 2023 – Gothenburg, Sweden | Ullevi
June 26, 2023 – Gothenburg, Sweden | Ullevi
June 28, 2023 – Gothenburg, Sweden | Ullevi
June thirty, 2023 – Oslo, Norway | Voldsløkka
July 2, 2023 – Oslo, Norway | Voldsløkka
July 6 – London | BST Hyde Park
July eight – London | BST Hyde Park
July xi, 2023 – Copenhagen, Kingdom of denmark | Parken
July 13, 2023 – Copenhagen, Denmark | Parken
July xv, 2023 – Hamburg, Germany | Volksparkstadion
July xviii, 2023 – Vienna, Austria | Ernst Happel Stadion
July 21, 2023 – Hockenheim, Germany | Hockenheimring
July 23, 2023 – Munich, Germany | Olympiastadion
July 25, 2023 – Monza, Italian republic | Prato della Gerascia, Autodromo di Monza