Bruce Springsteen on Broadway

Have you been to a concert in the last ten years? $75 won't buy you a last row ticket to a third rate act playing in a dump. I doubt any ticket will be under a grand.

 

On all those tours the "cheap" seats were the GA, but those were the entire floor (and there was a front section that was given to people who showed up at a certain time). Those always went for around $125-- not really cheap, but reasonable for someone of his stature. I realize prices went up ion the River tour.

 

General consensus? Ok.

Let's see what they actually go for midway through the run. I'm not referring to the first listings on StubHub. It will be high but seriously doubt $400 every night for balcony or standing room. Anyway, you've already cut the $850 price that everyone quotes by more than half and that's the secondary market.

As for his tours, he's really not that high compared to his contemporaries that draw big crowds. You could essentially be in the front row (pit) for $100-$150 from 1999 until now.

 

I was going to say that I hope this sparks a trend of more legacy artists doing more intimate shows like this but then I saw the prices for tickets and I changed my mind.

 

They already indicated that face value for tickets starts at $75 and tops out at $850.

And you grossly overstate prices for concerts. Are shows more expensive than they used to be? Yes, but not the way you indicate.

You can easily get tickets to "A"-level acts for $75 or less...

 

Not the case at all. I saw Boston and Joan Jett in an actual dump for $50 recently. The model here is that Live Nation makes a killing on the high demand shows and charge reasonable prices when they can't do otherwise.

 

I was about to make an "Outlaw Pete" joke, but you beat me to it. Hey, let's start a rumor......the show will be a theatrical performance of The Adventures of Outlaw Pete. Bruce has expanded the song into a mini-opera......this should drive down demand and allow us to get primo seats.

 

Tons of concerts. For Bruce or McCartney level I pay usually around $150-$175.

You're missing my point, and latching onto the $75 price for this particular show, which I'm saying will not be average. Neither will $850. It's a range.

 

Not in Orlando. Not even close.

 

Yeah, not accurate. I looked at shows coming to the Amway Center:

Ed Sheeran - sold out, but face was $57.50 and $67.50.

Bruno Mars: $45, $59.50, $89.50, & $135.

Katy Perry: "Tickets start at $47.50."

Shakira: "Tickets start at $47.50."

So there's four big-named acts, all of whom can be seen for less than $75.

If I kept looking, I'm sure I'd find many. many other shows with sun-$75 pricing.

Orlando isn't even a pricey area - tickets are gonna be cheaper there than bigger markets...

 

I think getting in for $300-400 a ticket will be tough but possible. Only getting inside the building last minute. Review dependent, especially if set lists/stories are basically the same every night.

Bruce has some of the highest stadium/arena guarantees in the business. He chooses the jack the price of nosebleeds instead of seats near the stage.

 

Queen/Lambert
OneRepublic/Fitz Tantrums
Rancid/Dropkick Murphys/Selecter
Lionel/Mariah
Dylan

Live Nation had a $20 promo in May. Bought 7 tickets for the above 5 shows for CDN$150 all fees included.

 

GA for Bruce has always been top tier ticket price and a gamble in the US when travelling fans figured out the pit. IMO, those 80% of nightly arena fans in 2016 who were not in the pit got poor value for their USD$180 when factor in line waiting, mosh pit hassle, sight lines, standing etc.

 

Bruce tickets for arena/stadium shows definitely are pricier than I ever thought they'd be, but I still think GA is usually the way to go.

Even if I'm not going to do the lottery, I can get a spot roughly 60% of the way back on the floor - it's not like they pack people in like sardines on the floor.

If I can get great lowers, I'll buy those instead of taking my chances with the lottery - it also makes for a more relaxing show since I don't have to get there 4 hours early - but GA is usually my preferred ticket...

 

I went GA in Boston for three consecutive tours (the three pre-River) and had a much better experience. Showed up 1/2 hour before the scheduled start time, walked right in, wound up standing (at most) halfway back on the floor, dead center, where the view and sound were both very good. EVen the Little Steven mixes made the wait time a lot more enjoyable.

 

Yeah, I've been perfectly content with my "standing spot" the times I've done GA in arenas but not gotten pit.

I'd rather be pit, and I hate sitting around for hours if I don't get pit, but I've still been fine with my vantage point.

If I don't get pit, I just go back to my car and enter the arena around the same time as you. I know I could wait in line with the others who didn't get pit, but nuts to that - I'm not literally standing around for hours if I'm still gonna be halfway back on the floor!

 

Bruce is testing me personally with this BS. Ever feel you've been a fan of someone for SO many years and then feel it's all been a waste of time, that he's a complete hypocrite? Let's call him what he IS, as he talks about the disparity of wealth in this country and economic opportunity, about the distance between the American Dream and the reality of it, which he's made SO much money doing so, and then he prices these shows out of reach but for all but the most affluent of fans.
This is also possibly a way to promote the paperback version of his book for MORE MONEY as a good portion of the show will be him reading passages and talking about the book, it seems. The paperback comes out in September.
It's certainly not being done "for the fans," as it is priced; he is doing this mostly it seems so he can add onto his achievements that he played on Broadway; fans be damned. Bruce is NOT altruistic. If he was this could be done with ALL seats at $75 done via a lottery method. This is a small theater, with minimal expenses; he could make plenty at $50 a ticket. Bruce doesn't care, and neither does his management. It seems what is left of his legacy is wanting to be destroyed, by himself, by his management.
Very depressing.

 

I agree about The Rising, one of the most overrated songs in his catalogue. I never understood the appeal. It is fairly monotone with a contrived, clumsy chorus. It came off better in its 2005 solo arrangement.

 

Just as there are plenty of expensive seats available to big shows there are also plenty of lower priced tickets available at most shows. I go to shows all over the United States and average about 60 shows a year. Tons of big names can be seen for $75 or less. I've seen U2 (are they a big enough name?) twice this year for $70 GA floor. Just one example but I rarely pay more than $100 for a concert ticket. Maybe fifteen or twenty percent of shows I see exceed the $100 mark and usually not by much.

 

While I don't agree fwiw with some of the conclusions you come to and I don't feel as understandably and respectfully emotional about it as you do, I think fwiw you make some good points and fwiw I found merit in your remarkals and I appreciated reading your post.

 

This is right on the money. Pun intended. Springsteen (even if he is already mega-rich) absolutely deserves to earn good money for his efforts, but I'll bet he could cap tickets at $250 and still do very well. ... $850 is a slap in the face to millions of his loyal fans.

"You read? You read on the show?"

 

Bruce charges $150 for many of the last row balcony seats on his last tours. Balcony end zones were $55 and all 4 balcony corners were $105.

The disenfranchise have been shut out of Bruce shows for several years now unless they get lucky during the on sale or know how to find a bargain in parking lot before the show.

 

Look nobody is forcing anybody to pay to see this. He is playing on Broadway at a theatre that holds less than 1000 people. When was the last time he played a venue that small for this amount of shows.
And who are we to decide on how much money he needs, the amount of booking the theatre for two months is probably more than you realize.
I am guessing most of you have not seen what the the prices are to see a hit play on Broadway. In fact tickets for Hamilton here in LA are $750 for the first 15 rows and that is for all 9 performances a week for the next four months.
This is something Bruce wants to do, he has his reasons, and for one I am happy he is doing it, I only wish it was not just in NY.
Either way I am going to try my hardest to try and get at least one or two shows to see this event.

 

I'm going to wait until it's a double-bill with "Cats" as the opening act...

 

Yawn