email at 47west63rd@gmail.com

Friday, April 08, 2005

Surprise: Bruce Springsteen Fails to Stand Up for Average American

Pains me to write these words but ticket prices for the Boss's upcoming solo acoustic "Devils and Dust" Tour are outrageous! In the case of the Washington DC area show in Fairfax, Virginia at the Patriot Center (George Mason University) on May 14 tickets went on sale earlier this morning priced at $78 and $88. This is absolutely insane in the membrain particularly given the venue size.. Although not RFK or Jack Kent Cooke Stadium with 70,000+ capacity the Patriot Center is not exactly intimate with between 7600 and 10000 seats!...(aside: it is disconcerting that the show is being promoted as "intimate"; intimate was the "Ghost of Tom Joad" Tour).. I caught Bob Dylan at the Patriot Center about two years ago and tickets were about $45..Tickets for a recent Bowie concert at the Patriot Center were on the order of $50... when you factor ticketmaster ticketbastard charges even the $78 tickets will be at least $85 for Sprinsgeen....The Boss better be planning to personally serenade each concertgoer!

If Springsteen decided to play an actual intimate venue such as the Warner Theatre or Constitution Hall -venues with capacity around 3000 and superior acoustics- perhaps he could have justified exorbitant ticket prices but for Bruce who talks and sings about average working Americans to charge more than $80 per ticket begs a difficult unpleasant question... Furthermore, the "Devils and Dust" tour will be a solo acoustic show lacking large concert staging costs that accrue when the E Street Band is in tow...

I love Bruce Sprinsteen like a brother, and I take note of limits placed in order to discourage scalping: 1) 2 ticket maximum per individual and 2) tickets for the better seats can only be used by the buyer who must present ID at the show, but on this one Bruce you goofed!

No comments:

Blog Archive