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Ticket prices for Springsteen's Tuesday night Feb. 21 show with the E Street Band in Tulsa, Oklahoma, dropped as low as $6 each -- with fees -- as resellers found themselves forced to dump.
His Valentine's Day shindig at the Toyota Center in Houston saw hundreds of tickets left at as little as 10 bucks and hundreds more between $25 and a C-note days before the big night.
A portent of things to come? Good question.
Okies who scouted Ticketmaster for seats found the cheapest priced ducats 10 times higher than those from the resellers -- $59.60 before fees, $73.70 with 'em.
That's because Ticketmaster, with Bruce's approval, sets a bottom line that can be placed on resale through the ticketing goliath and the secondary operations it owns.
Go to MegaSeats.com and you'll find upper tiers in some venues that'll cost less than a soda.
That's right: If the trend holds, you could end up paying more for a refreshment than for an upper-level ticket at Madison Square Garden, the Prudential Center in Newark, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the UBS Arena at Belmont Park (NY), MetLife Stadium, Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia) or Mohegan Sun (Uncasville), the MVP Arena (Albany), the Keybank Center (Buffalo), the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia) or the Bryce Jordan Center at State College, PA.
You could sense something like this might happen once the sales began for the 73-year-old rocker's latest go-round.
Springsteen, who once cultivated the image of the working man, has basically told interviewers that he's OK with Ticketmaster's "dynamic pricing" system -- which sent the prices of some seats soaring to more than $5,000 -- because (a) the demand was there (b) other performers were doing it and (c) anyone who complains on the way out can have their money back.
No surprise that the backlash was extreme, and not just against Springsteen but also Taylor Swift and any other rich-man-wanna-be-king selling tickets that cost more than a beach vacation.
New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. of Passaic demanded answers from Ticketmaster. The U.S. Justice Department went even further, launching an anti-trust investigation into Ticketmaster/Live Nation.
And "Backstreets," the highly respected and admired Springsteen fanzine that had been in business for 43 years, pulled the plug in solidarity with fellow fans.
It's tough to say who's getting the worst of it -- those who've never seen Springsteen and fear that this is their last chance or longtime loyalists who've not only bought the tickets but also shelled out for the countless boxed and re-boxed sets of both released and tossed-in-a-bottom-drawer demos, B-sides and other "alternative" tracks.
To be fair, many veteran ticket buyers know not to pull the trigger when sales first start. Those with enough disposable income and no qualms will instantly glom the top-price seats. Eventually, it all settles, and those with the constitution to ride it out will often find tickets that cost two figures instead of four.
John Breyault of the National Consumers League took the side of sellers who he said simply want to recoup some of what they paid if they can't make the show for some reason.
"Fans should not be the ones to pay the price when Live Nation and its clients fail to anticipate lower-than-expected demand for an event,” Breyault said.
For legitimate buyers, in the end, it's not that big a roll of the dice.
There are several legitimate resellers out there, especially in the Northeast. Once there's a week or so to go to your nearest show, start scouting. You might end up in Lucky Town.
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