It was a cool thing for fans who could swing it, and I’m glad he did it. I love having the recording, and long ago got over the fact that I couldn’t afford it. But the fact is that it did prioritize you if you lived anywhere near the east coast. The travel and accommodations for those of us further away, especially international fans, was a fortune, tickets were extremely hard to get, and the admission was still more expensive than what I have paid for any Springsteen tour.
the king but I think the overall issue is that for a lot of people $200 is a a lot of money, if you're working minimum wage that's like a day and a half worth of work, while for some people they'll pay that for a bottle of wine without batting an eye, and the affordability gap is growing I don't really blame the artists entirely, everything is just a mess
According to the internet, non-secondary tickets to the Broadway show ranged from $75 to $850. Tickets to the current arena tour range from $146 to $5742. Less folks could get in the door by definition, but he priced it way more fairly in comparison. And again, we're talking about an artistic decision (put on a theatre show, which means less people can come) vs a financial one (maximize tour profit).
(I’m not being flippant about the fact that it sucks ass that tons of people won’t be able to see him who want to by the way. But like Sean said he’s been rich since his 20s and as Craig said I really really try not to put famous rich people on pedestals anymore. Even Bruce. He is a flawed human being full of contradictions, like all of us, read his book if you don’t believe me. Well written but in a weird way it made me like “Bruce the human being” a little less. Unfortunately if we couldn’t already see this coming re tour prices and just not “getting it” about how expensive it is years ago then the Jeep commercial sure as fuck should have sent a signal!!)
Yeah, it really only bothered me to the level of me probably not spending a bunch of money to go see him live, which is not something I would have done anyway for at least the past ten years if not longer than that. I still love his music and look forward to anything and everything he releases.
Most tickets were secondary for a majority of those dates, and they sometimes went up to 20k PAID per seat. Maybe that’s what made him most pissed, and led us here. But again, ticket and ID check eliminates you losing out on any money that would otherwise go to scalpers. it’s just greed for greed sake.
Bruce has done this for years too. He sells the tickets, but some of his team also gifts tickets to fans walking towards the back of the venue before the show.
Yeah, I mean you won't find me advocating for the secondary ticket market. Just an utter parody of "free market" economics.
We paid $225 a ticket if I recall for like third row of the first balcony, which is also about what I paid when I was trying to impress my now-wife with GA to my first ever Bruce show at Citizens Bank Park. (We ended up swapping them with someone in front row seats, which was a good choice because he played over four hours.) Two of the great concert experiences of my life, absolutely worth the money.
It’s fucked, all concert tickets just about are fucked right now. I got to see Bruce with my dad when I was like 9 and I’m pretty sure our tickets were like $40 each—a lot of money for my parents who were scraping by in the early aughts in MS tho! I don’t feel particularly sorry for myself, I’ve been lucky enough to see some amazing shows and I still have the financial capacity to see some now even if I can’t afford all the ones I want. I feel sorry for people like my nieces ages 14,12,11 who have been heartbroken for months that they still don’t have T Swift tix despite my sister in law trying everything and being willing to blow their minimal budget…
anyway thoughts and prayers out to whatever credit card i pull to make sure i dont miss this tour They sound *so good*
That’s awesome, and I’m super jealous! I did look into it, but between travel and hotel, it was going to be like a month’s income.
Yeah I don’t mean to imply the experience was affordable to the masses or really to anyone not within a hundred miles of Manhattan. I was getting paid to go to NYC for work once a week anyway in 2018. Our main costs were one set of round trip train tickets, a meal before the show and what I believe is the worst night at an airbnb I’ve ever had and it was still expensive as hell haha. That said, I don’t see how turning it into a tour of some sort would have made the supply and demand curve more favorable to audiences who are upset about the cost of this arena tour. And in some ways, it would make me more annoyed at the fiasco this time around. But I guess it is what it is.
You’re right, touring that would have been a nightmare. Just the sheer demand in every city would have been insane. Would have loved to see it though. Even if it happened now, I’d do it. Just wasn’t at the point in my career where that was going on to work.
Saw him last night in Orlando! Solid as always, felt hit a little lull in the middle but then second half just crushed it. Still hard to believe he's 73 and playing non stop.
I was there too and it was incredible to see. Even in the nosebleeds you can feel the energy of the band and Bruce is such a great showman. A fantastic show and glad I got to cross them off the "must see" list.
Yeah as much as I love the music, especially up to The River and Nebraska, but not so much after, he does seem to have played both sides of the line of the everyman/money grubbing c.u.nt. I think, sadly the money grubbing c.u.nt part is who he is now. Money changes everything.