I grew up in New Jersey and there was a time - not so long ago it seems - that I would have been first in line to see a Bruce Springsteen biopic. I loved "Born to Run" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and even part of the commercial grab "Born in the U.S.A." Springsteen was a kind of blue-collar Everyman who would play the occasional surprise concert at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.
He even played an impromptu concert to overnight workers in the main Iceland airport which is pretty cool (pun intended).
Somewhere along the way he decided to make his concerts inaccessible to the blue collar fans he cultivated for decades: "$5,000 freeze out: Bruce Springsteen fans feel betrayed by ‘crazed’ concert ticket prices."
As one of the most beloved figures in popular music, Bruce Springsteen has enjoyed decades of absolute devotion from his legion of fans. A national tour with his E Street Band typically means his hardcore followers bounce from state to state, taking in as many of the Boss’ legendary three-or-four-hour marathon concerts as their wallets will allow.Next year might be different. When Springsteen’s loyal fanbase logged in on July 20 to purchase tickets for the opening seven dates of his 2023 U.S. arena tour, Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” program sent the face value for some floor seats to a dizzying $4,000 to $5,000 a piece. In an attempt to cut off the multibillion-dollar resale business, ticket prices jumped to a “fair value” based on demand to approximate the secondary market. Rather than scalpers, the money would instead go to the artist and promoter.
Look, man, those show horses ain't gonna pay for themselves.
The metamorphosis into a Trump-hating liberal was inevitable because you need to stay on the good side of the Hollywood set, the same crowd that will make a fawning biopic about your life.
I'd like to think that fame and fortune changed the Boss but maybe it was an act all along.
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