Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

^^^ otm

(opening myself up here for further derision and lowering of my already incredibly low status around ilx, but in the interest of full disclosure)

I've been meeting up with some buddies from around the country to see Dead & Co. once a year, when they tour, to hang out and generally just make a guys' weekend out of it. We generally pay in the range of $120-$150 per ticket, all in (fees & everything). When we first started doing this, it was a big pill to swallow and it felt like a lot. But their prices have stayed pretty consistent for the 2023 tour and at this point (jokes about general quality of the music aside) it almost feels like a bargain for a stadium show.

Tickets go on sale tmrrw to see Big Thief + Bill Callahan at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in August – they're $55 "plus fees." I looked back to see what I paid last time I saw a band there, in 2014... it was $32.50 plus fees (I found an email where I made a joke about why "the tickets are so $$$"). So the increase is more than just inflation... OTOH, maybe Callahan adds a price bump as well? Idk

^^Probably have to pay a Zombie Defense Fee.

I paid $44 (with fees, $35 face value) for Yo La Tengo next month, which felt reasonable, all things considered.

I saw that YLT were $30 plus fees in Los Angeles for this coming Monday, of course I faffed long enough that it's sold out.

I wasn't going to pass on tickets because I was waitlisted, but at 12:57 pm ET, they texted with "New Show added on 9/3! Shop for tickets at 1:30 pm ET to the Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Onsale powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan etc..." which works out better because the other two MetLife shows are on weekdays and this new third show is on a Sunday. (Also it looks like they're giving themselves a day off between MetLife shows - I guess to rest up?)

Section 300's (the nosebleed tier) is either $50 or $100 + fees. Grabbed two seats off to the side in row 4.

*I was going to pass

Also after an hour, lots of nosebleeds left (the majority of them) while a most of the 100's and floor seats are already gone. It may be due to the way they added this show - I think only waitlist members were notified, so it's possible scalpers weren't scooping them up, but if there are still a lot of nosebleeds a few weeks from now, I'm sure they'll come down by at least $20. That's what happened with other big venue shows I saw last year after the initial demand faded.

I posted this to the ticketmaster thread, or at least what looked like the closest thing to a Ticketmaster thread:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/live-nation-quarterly-revenues-soar-amid-ticketmaster-scrutiny-1235332845/

xpost Honestly, at this point I can't be bothered with the hassle. I am going to see Springsteen in Brooklyn April 3rd, but because I will be in the city April 1st I'll just see how things shake out for day-of tickets to Madison Square Garden. And if not? I feel lucky that I have seen him as many times as I have seen him. I feel bad for those that haven't seen him, and now face such onerous prices and practices.

Live Nation/ Ticketmaster blaming scalpers and bots , and not noting they could work harder to develop tech to stop those things. Also not mentioning their mostly exorbitant fees added to tickets.

I know it's not the same as being there in person, but now that we have recordings through sites like Nugs, livestreams of most of the major festivals (Coachella and Lollapalooza, at least), and other ways of experiencing a concert remotely, I have less FOMO staying home an experiencing many live events that way. (The same is even more so for literary readings and lectures, which were some of my most anticipated live events in my 20s and 30s, but now are shared as podcasts -- thinking SF's City Arts and Lectures, L.A. Library's Aloud series, NY Public Library readings/panels, etc.)

It depends on the experience, but YouTube also makes a huge difference. I posted that video of a Beck show at Irving Plaza the other day, and it didn't top my experience of being there because I was up front and that could've been shot from behind me. BUT compared to the times I've seen Beck at outdoor shows, that video was probably more satisfying in terms of visibility and everything else.

I've seen Bruce twice and if it was my first time, I'd splurge for one of the $250 floor seats, but I have and he's visibly and audibly aged, so it wasn't an absolute must-see situation. I'm taking someone who's never seen him though - not the biggest rock fan (much more into pop) but they wanted to go.

If you have SiriusXM, the Springsteen channel is usually airing large excerpts and/or whole shows from this tour on the reg a week or so after they happen.

they're all for sale on live.brucespringsteen.net too

sounds like tickets are a little bit more reasonable now for springsteen in st. paul (like wow $200ish what a bargain) but honestly fuck bruce springsteen i'm just so turned off by the whole big concert biz i don't even want to go anymore

It's the fees that really put things over the top, because in the end, what the fuck service is Ticketmaster even providing?

their business is charging fees basically

It's frustrating because it's not a new problem, but everyone went along with it.

From 1996:

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S07E24/1093341.jpg?b64lines=CiBZb3UgbGF1Z2hlZCB3aGVuIEkgYm91Z2h0CiBUaWNrZXRtYXN0ZXIuICJOb2JvZHkncwogZ29pbmcgdG8gcGF5IGEgMTAwJQogc2VydmljZSBjaGFyZ2UhIg==

Everyone tweeting about their Bruce tickets as if I haven't had mine for months pic.twitter.com/cfYuAtPMrR

— Mike Scollins (@mikescollins) February 24, 2023

Everybody cross your fingers and hold your thumbs for me that I get to see Bruce Springsteen tomorrow and don't get derailed by a migraine!

🤞🫰

bala be dur, fingers crossed! ♥️

Lily, iirc, your first show, right?

aw, he played I'm on Fire in Portland... I wanna hear that one live!

I've posted it before, but his spooky banjo version of that song is one of my faves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4WKYtS4JDk

wow, that IS spooky! and awesome.

hope the show is great lily dale!

Thanks, everyone! And yes, this will be my first Bruce show.

Oh Yeah!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/82/b3/ca/82b3ca834a4de0a369231c2d6487a1ea.gif

That brief look of terror on Courteney Cox's face never gets old.

have fun!

It was awesome! I can't imagine how exhausted he must be right now. It's crazy because you see him in interviews and his age really shows, so even though I knew this was supposed to be, like, an actual high-energy three-hour Bruce concert, it was hard to believe he could do it. But aside from a few creaky-voiced moments (all on songs from Letter to You) it was like he just willed himself to be 15 years younger and it worked.

It seems like he's got a standard setlist that he follows for this tour, but with a couple of slots that change from show to show. We didn't get "I'm on Fire" but we did get "Trapped," which was pretty awesome.

how awesome that you finally got to witness it!

i think i read that "i'm on fire" was a replacement for "night shift," which he couldn't do because the e street covid variant had left him short on the horns needed to play it. i wonder if "trapped" was added for the same reason?

Yeah, even when I saw Springsteen back in '99 or so I remembered thinking, man, how does he pull it off? And then I thought, wow, imagine what he was like when he was 28 or so.

Tix for Milwaukee next week still hovering around $150 minimum for behind the stage seats. I'd maybe consider if they dropped to ... $50.

I kind of wish I had gone for behind the stage. I went with the only tickets I could afford, which were pretty far away, and people in my section were sitting most of the show and only stood up for the encore. So I do feel like I missed out on some of the immersive quality of a Bruce show. Behind the stage looked a lot more in the middle of things.

Service charges for DC Nats Park tickets that went on sale today were crazy. $35.50 service charge plus $6 facility charge for the $120 tickets. Also high for $59 tickets

Random question: does anyone know what Bruce means by "Valentino drag" in Backstreets?

I would’ve guessed it meant having slicked-back hair like Rudolph Valentino, but that’s probably wrong (would Bruce use that sense of the word “drag”?).

i always thought in the context of the song it was a location - irl drag racing on a road called Valentino

the next line is *where* dancers scraped the tears off the street dressed down in rags etc

so it always seemed like a place but idk

maybe it is just dudes dressed like valentino

One of the main memories I have of him playing Wrigley Field around the time of Wrecking Ball and was in awe of how he could play for three hours and then pull out "Born to Run" and these other high-velocity numbers, with no lagging.

i love how he’d swing around off his mike stand like a pole dancer, like dude pulls out these moves like he’s ~twelve~ it’s so wild

I guy I know from long ago was at that Seattle show and posted these pics.

I think the "Valentino" reference is indeed to a look, not a place. Came across this, which I never knew:

According to Diane Lozito, his girlfriend from 1971 to 1975, Bruce "wrote "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" in bits and pieces and didn't have a title for it. My mom is Rita Lozito. Then he met my grandma. So I assume that's where he put it together." Diane's grandmother's full name was "Rose Lozito"; In that part of Jersey, it's pronounced Lazita, so "Rose Lazita". Also according to Diane, and confirmed independently by her sister, Carol Lisa Lozito, though the song name came from her grandmother, the song was about Diane. Carol also said her sister was Crazy Janey in "Spirit In The Night", Sandy in "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", Terry in "Backstreets", and the girl in "Thundercrack".

the drag racing thing never even occurred to me, i always took it as valentino the actor, and the sexual ambiguity he sadly shed as the years went on

btw "revved up like a deuce" refers to a two-seater hotrod, hope this helps, carry on

for example, a little deuce coupe

no vaginas were involved, carry on

I thought Bruce was just invigorated because he had pooped.

wrapped up like a bruce, another pooper in the night