Ticketmaster has been a recent unifying front of hatred for boomers and millennials alike due to the tactics the company used in selling tickets for two of its most anticipated tours of 2023: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Taylor Swift. While Swifties have been locked out of buying tickets entirely, back in July, the Springsteen tour’s own demand-driven “dynamic pricing†system soared ticket costs well in the $1,000 range with fans unable to afford even the cheapest of seats across all cities. Springsteen’s manager defended the pricing at the time, and now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Boss himself doesn’t seem to have qualms about how it all played out. “What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, ‘Go out and see what everybody else is doing. Let’s charge a little less.’ That’s generally the directions,†he explained. “They go out and set it up. For the past 49 years or however long we’ve been playing, we’ve pretty much been out there under market value. I’ve enjoyed that. It’s been great for the fans. This time, I told them, ‘Hey, we’re 73 years old. The guys are there. I want to do what everybody else is doing, my peers.’ So that’s what happened.â€
While Springsteen admits that the ticketing industry has gotten “very confusing†to navigate, he stresses how a lot of his 2023 tour tickets were in an “affordable range†for fans despite his agreeing to use the dynamic pricing system. “It created an opportunity for that to occur. And so at that point, we went for it,†he said. “I know it was unpopular with some fans. But if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.†When told that his longtime fans suffered a crisis of faith from the exorbitantly high prices, Springsteen offered this sermon in response:
Well, I’m old. I take a lot of things in stride. You don’t like to be criticized. You certainly don’t like to be the poster boy for high ticket prices. It’s the last thing you prefer to be. But that’s how it went. You have to own the decisions you have made and go out and just continue to do your best. And that was my take on it. I think if folks come to the show, they’re going to have a good time.
Springsteen hasn’t toured with the E Street Band since 2016 — a hiatus that assuredly contributed to the demand for tickets. (Similarly, Swift’s last tour was back in 2018.) At least he’ll maybe play for four hours each night?