To quote The Boss himself: “Poor man wanna be rich/ Rich man wanna be king/ And a king ain’t satisfied 'til he rules everything.”
After decades of insisting that fans be allowed to see the king of New Jersey for an affordable price, Bruce Springsteen’s most recent tour has sent shock waves through a rabid fan base as ticket prices soared for the North American leg.
But Springsteen’s manager says it’s all about capitalism.
“In pricing tickets for this tour, we looked carefully at what our peers have been doing. We chose prices that are lower than some and on par with others,” Jon Landau told the New York Times in a statement Tuesday.
“Regardless of the commentary about a modest number of tickets costing $1,000 or more, our true average ticket price has been in the mid-$200 range. I believe that in today’s environment, that is a fair price to see someone universally regarded as among the very greatest artists of his generation.”
Springsteen hasn’t toured since 2016, driving up the demand, as have rumors that this could be the last run for the 72-year-old Freehold, New Jersey, native. But for fans who were seeing four-digit prices on tickets, that’s not an excuse.
“Bruce Springsteen sold his catalogue for $550m which curiously makes him the only person who can afford tickets to his own shows,” one person tweeted.
“I just tried to buy Springsteen tickets, but I forgot to get approved for a second mortgage first,” wrote another.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster did not immediately return a request for details on prices from the Daily News Wednesday, but the company has routinely defended its dynamic pricing and “platinum tickets,” which do not offer anything special but instead fluctuate based on demand, rather than a fixed price.
The exorbitant costs also come after years of Springsteen insisting on a fair, reasonable price for his shows.
Springsteen himself has not commented on what fans have claimed is a betrayal. Only Steve Van Zandt, the E Street Band guitarist and “Sopranos” alum, has faced the outcry.
“I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets,” he tweeted last week. “Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis. Dick.”
The U.S. leg of Springsteen’s upcoming tour begins Feb. 1 in Tampa, Florida, and wraps at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on April 14, with stops along the way including Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York.
———
