Editor's note: With Springsteen off the road — for now — Friend of Blogness Scott Shuster thought this would be a good time to look back at the ticket pricing brouhaha that preceded this tour, and where things stand now. Is all forgiven? Should it be? Take it away, Scott!
— Pete
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By Scott Shuster
Coming out of the pandemic, Springsteen fans were understandably beyond excited for the upcoming tour. Covid had relegated us to our homes and caused immeasurable havoc across the Globe, Bruce had not toured since 2017 and not in the US since 2016. As always, he had proven to be a comforting companion, this time during the pandemic. His radio show, From My Home to Yours provided desperately needed entertainment and as close to human touch as we could get. Famously, Bruce promised to throw the biggest party the world had ever seen for all of his fans once the quarantine had ended.
So the anticipation was unprecedented when tickets went on sale in June of 2022. But while we all experienced the usual anxiety and stress that comes with trying to secure Bruce tickets, none of were prepared for the demon that would be dynamic pricing. Fans were horrified at the virtual waiting rooms with queues of thousands. Those buying tickets were asked to rank where they wanted to attend shows even if they lived nowhere close to some of the venues. Worst of all, when you actually got the rare chance to buy a ticket, the price was in the thousands of dollars.
My and many fans’ initial reaction was to blame the usual suspect, Ticketmaster. Surely Bruce and his team did not want or intend for fans to pay thousands of dollars for tickets that usually had a face value in the low hundreds at most. But to our horror Bruce and Jon Landau admitted that had been their intention. They wanted the market to set the price. A somewhat defiant Bruce said that anyone unsatisfied at the show could get their money back.
Perhaps for the first time in his career, the fans were legitimately angry with Bruce. The man who spoke for and represented the working man had sold out. Now his shows would only be affordable for those willing to pay up to FIVE figures for a pair of tickets and not necessarily in a prime location. The man who had claimed he would not play private parties anymore (although there were certainly a few exceptions to that rule) was effectively ONLY playing private parties.
The media ran with the story that Bruce had sold out and editorials crushed him for his apparent greed. Most notably, the fan site Backstreets, beloved and indispensable to the Springsteen community for its content, decided to cease operations in large part because they felt they could not continue the site with their same passion when their fans were being priced out of shows.
This crisis of faith hit the Springsteen community hard. I have three lifelong friends who are fortunately all diehard Bruce fans. We have attended numerous shows together and have spent countless hours ranking and discussing Bruce’s music. Two of my boys were infuriated and hurt and swore off Bruce, including E Street Radio, which for many of us is a reflexive listen when we get in our cars. My third friend and I were a bit more reserved in our angst. We understood Bruce’s rationale that he deserved to get the money as opposed to scalpers and were recognized that in today’s world touring is how musicians make their money as opposed to record sales. As capitalists we respected the right of an individual to maximize his income pursuant to the law of supply and demand. We wondered if Bruce was trying to give the E Street Band members one last huge payday. But admittedly it didn’t feel the same. I started listening to Bruce’s music and E Street Radio less.
Bruce had warned us. On Broadway he admitted he had a tinge of fraud. Earlier in his career he had sung “It’s a sad funny ending, to find yourself pretending a rich man in a poor man’s shirt.” He had done a commercial. The Broadway face value prices were extremely significant and higher than the average Broadway show, despite the fact he did not have a full band or significant touring expenses. But with respect to those ticket prices, fans seemed more sad than angry and somewhat understanding, perhaps because the venues were so small. And this was before he sold his catalogue for hundreds of millions of dollars.
So as I write this piece today it is December 13, 2024. The Canadian tour just wrapped up to the customary rave reviews. I’m still so angry at Bruce that I’m trying to make plans to go see him next summer in Europe.
So how should Bruce’s fans feel about Bruce approximately two and a half years after the Dynamic Pricing disaster? And what does that say about ourselves?
For decades Bruce kept ticket prices low compared to other major artists. The value he has provided his fans at the live shows is self-evident, as arguably no other artist has consistently played as long and as passionately as he has. Three hour shows have been the norm throughout the majority of his career and on the second River tour Bruce even eclipsed the four hour mark on a few occasions. On this present tour even in his seventies Bruce started out playing well over two hours and now three hours has once again been the norm.
Bruce has also treated his fans outside the arenas as well as any artist I can recall. It seems like he has posed for a picture with every fan who has asked in New Jersey and around the world. He did a book tour and actually took pictures with book purchasers at every stop. For what? He was already getting the book money. Bruce made the effort because he wanted to meet and show appreciation to his fans.
Born to Run the book was not only a gift to his fans who got to meet him. Bruce could have sold just as many copies without detailing his battles with depression. Bruce was willing to sacrifice his privacy so that his readers could learn about his condition and perhaps gain some measure of comfort that even a rockstar can suffer from depression and can learn to manage it and thrive despite it.
Bruce opening up also paid dividends to me personally when I saw Bruce for the second time on his Broadway stand. I was in the midst of helping my father navigate through dementia and it was a trying time at best. At his show Bruce discussed his own mother’s dementia and said that as awful as the disease is, he learned to savor the opportunity to give her small joys. For Adele Springsteen, that was a dance with her son or playing her a song. He talked about appreciating every moment she was happy. I know firsthand how difficult it is talking about a parent’s struggles from dementia, but Bruce was willing to pull back the curtain. I leaned on his experience and felt significant comfort every time I saw my father experience joy, for however long it lasted. Man I wish I could thank Bruce in person for that.
Let’s look back in retrospect at the ticket mess. Long time Bruce fans know that on many of his tours he has done a one night stand in cities on the first leg and then returned to those cities for multiple nights later in the tour. My crew and I have often lamented that those one-night stands are often for the “pink hats” (a term used derisively in Boston to describe fair weather Red Sox fans who go to Fenway to be seen in their pink Red Sox hats) who can afford the more expensive one-night tickets. The irony is that the shows are often better later in the tour when the band has tightened up and the setlists are less static.
So let’s use my neck of the woods as an example of how things actually played out. On the first part of the tour Bruce played one night at the TD Garden in Boston. Tickets were astronomically priced at the beginning, but by the night of the show a buddy and I were able to buy solid upper tickets from Seat Geek in the high two hundreds. Somewhat pricey but hardly obscene. When Bruce and the band returned to the area the following year he went to Gillette Stadium. Tickets were readily available for those two shows at or below face value with a get in price around $80. This pattern was repeated throughout the country. In other words, if you wanted to see Bruce, you could. The relevance of dynamic pricing dissipated. The pink hats paid the early high prices and the savvy, motivated fans played the long game and saw as many shows as they wanted.
If you are reading this blog you likely know how special Bruce’s music is. You know that feeling you get when you hear the opening cords of Thunder Road, when you hear the saxophone in Jungleland and when you hear the piano in Racing in the Streets. You have experienced the exhaustion and exhilaration of walking on air out of a Bruce show with a buzz that has nothing to do with any alcohol or substance. Bruce has provided you those rushes for decades, day after day. Bruce has given us so many experiences that we have shared with friends and family, experiences that we can cherish for a lifetime. Hell, the recent Asbury Park show is such an experience even for those of us who weren’t there!
Bruce has stood up for those in need and for the downtrodden. Regardless of whether you agree with his politics, one must acknowledge that he has spoken up courageously and authentically, with little to gain except for the knowledge that he stood up for what he thought was right. He has been philanthropic publicly and privately. Of course, Bruce has also helped us through his music with the pain that living brings, be it family issues, aging, loss or mortality. He has exalted us to push through the hard times and come out stronger for it and to spit in the face of these badlands. He has created a meaningful community where nobody goes it alone.
I understand the anger and disappointment that dynamic pricing brought because I felt it, though not to the degree that others did. I’m not judging anyone for how they felt. It was a disappointing time for us all. I truly miss Backstreets, which was meaningful and appreciated both in print and online.
But those who expect and demand loyalty should give it in return. None of us are perfect and Bruce has never claimed to be. He’s actually repeatedly admitted the opposite. And for those who swore off or “quit” Bruce, maybe it was an emotional decision or one done in haste. Or maybe not. But I can’t help but wonder if it was a regrettable one. The good news is that for the most part it is reversible and for many has already been reversed, if not completely. Most importantly perhaps is the lesson we can take from the whole dynamic pricing mess: we should wait and take a deep breath or two before deserting the people or things that mean so much to us. Unlike with Bruce and his music, those decisions cannot always be easily reversed or rectified.
Maybe I’ll see you in Milan.
Scott Shuster has been a Springsteen junkie since high school when he first heard the opening bars of "Born in the USA." He is approaching 100 live shows attended. When not listening to Bruce, Scott is a real estate developer, lawyer and part owner of Boston EVC, Greater Boston’s only company dedicated to the installation and provision of electric vehicle chargers.