Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

I saw Springsteen on the Tunnel of Love tour behind the stage. I still got a pretty good show--he's such a superb entertainer--and a really good view of his bald spot.

Bald In The U.S.A.
Combover Me
Born To Rug
The Price Toupee

I must say, "Combover Me" makes the song title sound even dirtier than it is.

I say this a million times and will say it again, if you are going to pony up $$ for a big venue show that is pure showmanship & music, Bruce is your guy. He’s so good at bringing an audience in and making you feel like like it’s a club or a VFW hall. Like you might be in the nosebleeds and he’s the size of an ant but it feels like you’re in the first 10 rows the whole time.

The only other artist I have ever seen who has that kind of oldschool stagecraft, that combo of precision & intimacy, was Prince.

I'm glad I got a ticket to see him in Hamburg before all this dynamic pricing nonsense started. I'll still try for one in Seattle, but it's nice to go in knowing I'll get to see him regardless and there's no huge pressure to pay outrageous prices.

a really good view of his bald spot

Bald in the USA

Given the long discussion of ticket prices plus baldness I really should have a "scalpers" joke here somewhere.

Wait for it...

Hmmm....

Got it!

PATTI SCALPYA

Not worthy

suggest ban

Perhaps caution

No, Veg is right. I shalk preemptively FP myself

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/ff/Bannedintheusa.jpg/220px-Bannedintheusa.jpg

I got Saturday detention for skipping school to wait in like for 'Tunnel of Love' tickets and then it sold out before I got any at the Hoosier Dome.

Ain't that America for you and me...

(Comb on up for the Risin')

(I'll see myself out.)

"Tenth Avenue Tease-Out"
"Baldlands"
"Hairy Darling"

By many accounts Bruce patched that problem up with a hair transplant.

roll down the window and let the wind blow off my hairs

Just curious, when did Bruce's baldspot really become noticeable at his shows? Tunnel of Love or Born in the USA tour?

xxxp man, if it wasn't for the internet, I'd be going to a lot less shows.

Countin On A Miracle Breakthrough In The Treatment Of Male Pattern Baldness

TBF someone did cut a six inch valley through the middle of his skull.

Wow - I always thought it was “…my soul”!

(v funny post, btw)

Meeting Of The Hair Club For Men Across The River

"State Toupee"

!

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/04/29/PAPP/f7d85c1e-02d7-4d5d-a054-b5a3da0cf1ec-Bruce_haircut.jpg?width=660&height=657&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

Ticketmaster's claim: "In the wake of an ongoing furor over 'dynamic pricing' for Bruce Springsteen’s tour, Ticketmaster took the unusual step Sunday afternoon of releasing some statistics about costs and percentages for the dates that went on sale last week. Downplaying the number of controversial 'platinum' tickets with variable prices that reached as high as $5,000 apiece on the first day of on-sales, Ticketmaster says those represent only 11.2% of the overall tickets sold."

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ticketmaster-says-most-bruce-springsteen-210902940.html

But then there's this:

"While there was speculation that the highest prices being disseminated were determined by an algorithm, sources say the dynamic pricing is not actually rooted in an algorithm but set by promoter pricing teams, which would explain some of the big differences in pricing for platinum tickets from city to city."

One of the least transparent corporate entities with a vertically integrated de facto monopoly that gives them control of supply, demand and distribution? Sure, I trust that excuse.

Spot on - but it'll be interesting to see if things do continue to improve as it would make that statement seem more plausible.

If things improve that means someone knows they fucked up.

Well, good, right? It will mean the uproar/pushback has been effective

We'll see! All I know is that when I look at Tulsa (my rando control) there are still lots of tickets available for between $85 and $200 or so, with the highest around $500. (Lots of those are already "verified resale.") Looking just now, cheapest/worst tix at a bigger rando market, Austin, are more like $250, with the most expensive/best around $1000. An even more premium stop, Boston, the cheapest/worst are more like $600 or so, and the best around $2000. I assume however in or out of line some of these prices are, the market will be pretty liquid come showtime and find a more stable floor and ceiling. Why TM would want to waste its and our time with this dumbness is kind of perplexing. It's kind of like starting the bidding at an auction super high then working the price down over the course of several months. "Do I hear $500? $500? How about $450? $350? ..." That's one way to subvert scalping, I suppose.

No ball, Bruce!

Seeing @theweeknd with @oldfilmsflicker and it’s the first time I’ve had seats down center and not been able to see a damn thing because a giant globe is blocking the stage. This is an obstructed view that uhhhh definitely wasn’t priced as that. pic.twitter.com/L2MOTkNID1

— Robert Daniels (@812filmreviews) July 25, 2022

Blinded by the Blinding Lights (...you'll won't be, thanks to the globe)

he has the whole world in his view

Part of Lefsetz take on ticket debacle.

since Bruce and Jon are not tech-savvy, they had no idea the algorithm could go out of control, they didn't even think of capping ticket prices. So, the ticket goes up a couple of hundred bucks, better we get the money than the scalpers. As for the ultimate multiple four figure prices? They didn't even contemplate this, they did not foresee this.

But he also says :

As for Ticketmaster taking all the heat... They screwed up with their algorithm, but they do nothing, NOTHING without Bruce and Jon's approval.

The fault lies at the feet of Bruce. ... Bruce just wants what he's entitled to.

I got waitlisted for Springsteen tickets but my wife qualified. She is trying this morning but quickly got a message that there are 1335 people ahead of her in line for DC show tickets

everyone says to stick it out.

Not looking good, unless we want to pay $1500 a ticket and we don't

Some future president is going to have to forgive everyone's Ticketmaster debt.

lol fuck a $1500 ticket. The most expensive ticket I've ever had (and didn't pay for) was $1000 to see Pearl Jam in a small club with Robert Plant *opening*, and every penny of that ticket and all proceeds from the show, from merch to alcohol, went to Katrina relief.

Give it 8 months and the price will go down 10X.

I backed away from $300 McCartney seats earlier in the year. If I'd never seen him, maybe I would have done it, but as it was I mostly thought it would be fun for the kids to be able to say they'd seen a Beatle. But when I got to the purchase point and was looking at $1,400 or whatever with all the fees, I couldn't do it. That's a family vacation.

Hell, I wanted to take the whole family to see Weird Al a couple of weeks ago, but I just couldn't do it. It would have been something like $1000 for all four of us, with fees, and even that felt kind of yucky. With Springsteen specifically, who even knows what the shows will be like. It's been 6 years, and the next year won't make things any better. And there's no reason to think he won't just keep doing this for another 10 years, or as long as he can, no matter his/their condition.

Now, Roxy Music, an overpriced show I'm still on the fence about, there's a really good chance these will be their last shows (and no way will it be the band even close to its best), and given sales have been soft I'm sure I'll be able to get them for a reasonable price (or at least one I can justify) come September. But all these big acts, I've seen them all at least once, some multiple times, some (like Springsteen) many times, and ultimately ... in the end, if I ended up without a ticket, I think I'm good.

FWIW, I think I'm seeing this a LOT with the arena shows. Remember the Kendrick Lamar shows and how expensive those were? Depending on the location, it may have trouble selling out - for example, UBS in Long Island is not even close to selling out and you can now get them for half of the original asking price, with about two weeks until show time. And this is direct from Ticketmaster, not the secondary market or even Ticketmaster's resale listings.

I think there's something hinky going on. I mean, I *know* there is something hinky going on. If I go to Ticketmaster and look up a Springsteen show - again, I'll just go with Tulsa - there are "verified resale" tickets already up there. And this is for a show in *8 months.* But if I go to TM and look up Roxy Music in Chicago, it does *not* show any verified resale tickets. Now, the Roxy show is not sold out, but it's also in a month or so, so you would think *someone* would be selling tickets on the site, which makes me think that TM just isn't showing fans the listings *because* it's not sold out. They want to sell (and therefore control) the primary tickets first before anyone looks for secondary market tickets/prices (which they can't control as tightly).

RE: Roxy Music, a friend with tickets says he's definitely unable to list them for sale on TM - the option's grayed out.

There’s also just Ticketmaster glitches when tickets first go on sale with so many folks trying-

My wife got a message “I’m sorry something went wrong” and had to click a button to “rejoin queue.” Now that put her back to 2,000 plus people ahead of her.

Who would have thought that having the seller also be the reseller would be a bad idea.

It's pretty amazing how TM keeps finding new ways to fuck everyone over.

I keep thinking about Bruce's "When this is all over, I'm throwing a huge party and you're all invited" from early in the pandemic. Obviously we knew at the time this meant an expensive tour and not, you know, Brucestock, but to say that and then be cool with these prices is really extra out of touch.

Can the Roxy tix be resold on, say, StubHub?

On StubHub, yes.

But then they wouldn't be *verified.*