The Official Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Thread.

Nice I'm glad everyone was able to get tickets!

LOL I can't take credit for that, Alana. I know I stole it from someone, but I have no idea who. It sure fits, doesn't it?

Absolutely! Fortunately, I was spared the aggrevation of trying to get tix today. Bruce sure did time things perfectly.

I guess I was lucky to not be going for tickets this morning, though I still might end up caving closer to the show.

Still waiting on Florida dates...

I couldn't get tix at all for Jersey. I thought the half time show was great and could care less what the critics think. they all hate BJ as well. The NYTimes is going bankrupt anyway.

Solid statement against the merger actions of his own promoter at the end of this message. Well said, Bruce.



A Letter to Our Fans
From Bruce Springsteen
Today at 3:48pm
A Letter to Our Fans:

We know there was much confusion regarding Ticketmaster and TicketsNow during last Monday's on-sale dates. We were as confused as you were, as we were given no advance notice of the major changes in the Ticketmaster-TicketsNow world. (Bear in mind that we are not clients of any ticketing company, and that all those arrangements are between venues and ticketing companies.)

Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice.

We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.

We know the many cynical arguments some make in favor of the Ticketmaster system: There are rumors that some artists or managers participate in Ticketmaster charges--we do not. There are rumors that some artists or managers are receiving a percentage of the amount above face value at secondary outlets like TicketsNow--we do not. Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect "scalping" those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow--we do.

While many of you have sent notes to us and your local promoters, you may also send accurate informational letters to Albert Lopez of Ticketmaster [Albert.Lopez@ticketmaster.com] and he will try to address your questions.

A final point for now: the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing. Several newspapers are reporting on this story right now. If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.

The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.

Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team



A friend forwarded her copy to me, but the letter is also posted on Bruce's official website - http://www.brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html

Wow to the above. Good for Bruce for having the balls to write that!

I second that - the entire process absolutely sucked. I had no problems getting tickets for Philadelphia through the Comcast website. AND I never thought I'd see the day I'd say something nice about Comcast. That's how far over the line ticketmaster has gone.

However historically speaking, a few artists have taken them on in the past - and lost. Pearl Jam anyone

I'm not familiar with the Pearl Jam situation but I'd be curious as to what Bruce and his fans alike could do in this situation because it is clearly a conflict of interest.

Also it's nice to see someone give a hoot about their fans.