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Ticket Avenue Freeze-Out: Bruce Springsteen Fans Frustrated By Scalpers
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 28, 2012
Modified Jan 28, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 28, 2012
Modified Jan 28, 2012
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Yesterday, thousands of Bruce BROOOOOOCE Springsteen fans were blinded by the cold cruel light when they logged onto Ticketmaster to purchase tickets to one of The Boss' five NY/NJ area shows. Instead, they were met point blank with a "Your wait time is 15 minutes" message, left feeling like they were on the outside looking in. It turns out all those fans were kept from getting tickets because of scalpers—and as Springsteen himself once said, "Well, sir, I guess there's just a meanness in this world."
"Big acts mean big fan interest. Unfortunately this also means that scalpers are out in full force," Ticketmaster said in a statement. "Scalpers were using sophisticated computer programs to assault our systems and secure tickets with the sole intention of selling them in the resale market." Ticketmaster told Star-Ledger its website was attacked by scalpers using sophisticated computer programs that generated 2.5 times the traffic it had seen for any major sale during the last year. Is that just the price you pay to see The Boss?
Minutes after yesterday’s sales began for the April 3 and April 4 concerts at the Izod Center and the May 2 show at the Prudential Center in Newark, thousands of the $98 tickets ($114 with service fees) were listed at prices up to $6,600 on multiple other ticket websites. So a lot of hungry hearts will go unfed as a result.
Last year, LCD Soundsystem faced a similar problem after announcing their last ever show at MSG—they ended up putting on another four shows to make it up to their fans and "fuck the scalpers." But it seems for Springsteen fans, if you stay on the (internet) streets of this town, they'll be carving you up all right.
Tagged
bruce springsteen
izod center
Music
prudential center
rock
scalpers
ticketmaster
tour
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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