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Bruce Springsteen speaks out on backlash over exorbitant ticket prices amid Taylor Swift Ticketmaster fiasco

November 19, 2022

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Bruce Springsteen has opened up about the backlash he’s received from fans due to high ticket prices for his 2023 tour with the E Street Band amid the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster fiasco.

The 73-year-old artist has come under fire for using Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model, which allows ticket prices to fluctuate based on demand. The move sparked outrage as prices for some tickets soared to $5,000 when they went on sale in July.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen defended her decision to use the model for the first time in her career, arguing that tickets to her show are usually priced below market value.

“What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, ‘Go see what other people are doing. Let’s charge a little less.’ It’s usually the instructions,” he told the outlet.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN DIRECTOR DEFENDS HIGH TICKET COSTS AMID COUNTERFEITING: ‘RIGHT PRICE’

Bruce Springsteen has opened up about the backlash he’s received from fans due to the high ticket prices for his 2023 Springsteen Tour and the E Street Band. (Getty Images/Getty Images)

“They go out and set it up. For the last 49 years or however long we’ve been playing, we’ve been pretty much below market value. I’ve enjoyed that. It’s great for the fans.

“This time I said to them, ‘Hey, we’re 73. The guys are here. I want to do what everyone else is doing, my peers.’ So that’s what happened. That’s what they did,” Springsteen said with a laugh.

He added that buying tickets has become “very confusing” for artists and fans alike and that most tickets to his shows are “totally affordable”.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SLAMMED BY FANS FOR HIGH TICKET PRICES

“They’re in that affordable range,” the ‘I’m on Fire’ hitmaker said. “We’ve got these tickets that’ll go for that [higher] price somewhere anyway.

“The ticket broker or somebody else is going to take this money. I’m like, ‘Hey, why wouldn’t this money go to the guys who are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for this?’ It created an opportunity for that to happen. And so, at that time, we went in. I know it was unpopular with some fans.

“But if there are complaints when you leave, you can get your money back,” he joked.

The 73-year-old musician has come under fire for using Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model, which allows ticket prices to fluctuate based on demand. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images/Getty Images)

When asked how he felt about the fan blowback, Springsteen replied, “Well, I’m old. I take a lot of things into my own hands. You don’t like to be You definitely don’t like being the poster boy for the high ticket prices. It’s the last thing you’d rather be. But that’s how it happened.

“You have to own up to the decisions you’ve made and go out and keep doing your best. And that was my point of view. I think if people come to the show, they’re going to have a great time.”

Springsteen also told the outlet that he wouldn’t rule out using the dynamic pricing model again for future tours.

“It will be a whole different discussion when that happens,” he said. “I don’t want to say anything now, but we’ll see what happens.”

Springsteen’s remarks come after Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift ticket debacle. (Getty Images/Getty Images)

Springsteen made the remarks after Tuesday’s debacle when tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour became available for presale purchase through Ticketmaster.

Many fans stayed in the Ticketmaster Queue for hours waiting for Swift tickets during the East Coast presale on Tuesday. The ticket site has suspended Central Standard Time lineups, delayed West Coast schedules and pushed back Capital One’s pre-sale to Wednesday to meet demand.

After selling 2 million tickets, Ticketmaster canceled Friday’s scheduled public onsale due to “high demand” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”

After the cancellation, ticket prices skyrocketed on resale sites. Nosebleed seats in a slew of venues topped $1,000 on Friday. Tickets to the top of Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, fetched over $2,000.

Swift addressed the controversy for the first time on Friday, saying she was “extremely protective” of her fans. (Gareth Cattermole/TAS18/Getty Images for TAS/Getty Images)

This decision infuriated many ticketless fans. After initially remaining silent, Swift addressed the controversy on Friday.

“It goes without saying that I am extremely protective of my fans,” the “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer wrote in a post she shared on her Instagram story.

“We’ve been doing this for decades together and over the years I’ve brought so many elements of my career internally. I did this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself- even with my team, who care about my fans as much as I do. It’s really hard for me to trust an outside entity with those relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen without recourse.

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“There are a multitude of reasons why people have had such a hard time getting tickets and I’m trying to understand how this situation can be improved in the future. I’m not going to excuse anyone because we asked them, several times, if they could handle this kind of request and we were assured that they could. It’s really unbelievable that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that many of them feel like they have suffered several bear attacks to get them.

“And to those who didn’t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to give us more opportunities to come together and sing these songs. Thank you for wanting to be there. You have no idea how much that means.”

Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.