Bruce Springsteen Readies to Rock
As he ramps up toward his 17th album release, Bruce Springsteen has booked himself to play the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12. With 20 Grammy trophies in his case already, the Boss is no stranger to the event. Then, a few weeks later, on March 6, his Wrecking Ball drops.
After that, Springsteen is hitting the road to support the new CD. However, a bit of hullabaloo has already been flying around regarding tickets for the tour. Working with Ticketmaster, the Springsteen camp is utilizing paperless tickets as a means to keep scalpers at bay. Naturally, the secondary ticket brokers are a wee bit perturbed by the move and say that the strategy hinders fans just as much as anybody.
Indeed, when tickets for Springsteen’s New Jersey shows went on sale, the Ticketmaster website was glutted with requests and folks weren’t able to get through. Ticketmaster blamed scalpers for the problem, but the fact that Roger Waters’ Yankee Stadium performances of The Wall and a few other big-ticket New York City shows also went public that day could have easily contributed to the difficulties.
Springsteen has been the eye of ticket storms past, particularly in 2009 when he attempted a similar, paperless approach for some shows. Then, error messages on the Ticketmaster site redirected fans to their TicketsNow subsidiary to pay above face value. The whole debacle led Senator Chuck Schumer of New York to introduce a bill in Congress to temper secondary brokers with a waiting period.
Die-hard fans who have run into trouble trying to secure tickets – don’t lose faith! Keep checking the Ticketmaster site, as well as the Springsteen fan site, Backstreets. At the latter, you’ll find the Backstreets Ticket Exchange (BTX) forum where fans trade info on tickets, if not tickets themselves.
If all else fails, turning to the secondary ticket market can, sometimes, result in decent deals on great seats. The prices can be way out of touch, but deals are also there to be had.
Waiting until the last minute can also work in your favor on occasion. Whether it’s scoring someone’s extra ticket outside the venue or taking advantage of just-released seats, patience can be a virtue in the concert world.
The Springsteen tour gets underway on March 18 in Atlanta, Georgia, and ends on May 2 back at home in Newark, New Jersey. This will be the E Street Band’s first tour since losing saxophonist Clarence Clemons. The line-up this year includes keyboardist Roy Bittan, guitarists Nils Lofgren and Stevie Van Zandt, backing vocalist Patti Scialfa, bassist Garry Tallent, and drummer Max Weinberg. Also on board as additional players are violinist Soozie Tyrell and organist Charlie Giordano.
After the North American leg, Springsteen and company head to Europe on May 13 and will be there through July 31.
Bruce Springsteen 2012 Tour Dates:
March 18 – Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena
March 19 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
March 23 – Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Times Forum
March 26 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
March 28 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
March 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
April 1 – Washington, DC – Verizon Center
April 3 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center
April 4 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center
April 6 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
April 9 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
April 12 – Detroit, MI – The Palace of Auburn Hills
April 13 – Buffalo, NY – First Niagara Center
April 16 – Albany, NY – Times Union Center
April 17 – Cleveland, OH – Quicken Loans Arena
April 24 – San Jose, CA – HP Pavilion
April 26 – Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
April 29 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
May 2 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
May 13 – Seville, Spain – Estadio Olimpico
May 17 – Barcelona, Spain – Estadio Olimpico Lluis
May 18 – Barcelona, Spain – Estadio Olimpico Lluis
May 25 – Frankfurt, Germany – Commerzbank Arena
May 27 – Cologne, Germany – RheinEnergieStadion
May 28 – Landgraaf, Netherlands – Pinkpop
May 30 – Berlin, Germany – Olympia Stadion
June 2 – San Sebastian, Spain – Estadio Anoeta
June 3 – Lisbon, Portugal – Rock in Lisbon
June 7 – Milan, Italy – Stadio Meaza
June 10 – Florence, Italy – Stadio Francesco
June 11 – Trieste, Italy – Stadio Trieste
June 17 – Madrid, Spain – Estadio Santago Bernabu
June 19 – Montpellier, France – Park & Suites Arena
June 21 – Sunderland, UK – Stadium of Light
June 22 – Manchester, UK – Etihad Stadium
June 24 – Isle of Wight, UK – Isle of Wight Festival
July 4 – Paris, France – Bercy
July 5 – Paris, France – Bercy
July 7 – Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
July 9 – Zurich, Switzerland – Stadium Letzigrund
July 11 – Prague, Czech Republic – Synot Tip Arena
July 12 – Vienna, Austria – Ernst Happel Stadium
July 14 – London, UK – Hard Rock Calling
July 17 – Dublin, Ireland – RDS
July 18 – Dublin, Ireland – RDS
July 21 – Oslo, Norway – Valle Hoven
July 23 – Bergen, Norway – Koengen
July 24 – Bergen, Norway – Koengen
July 27 – Gothenberg, Sweden – Ullevi
July 28 – Gothenberg, Sweden – Ullevi
July 31 – Helsinki, Finland – Olympic Stadium