Springsteen And E Street Band 2023 Tour

The Springsteen and E Street Band 2023 Tour is an upcoming concert tour by American singer Bruce Springsteen and his backing band the E Street Band. The tour is scheduled to begin on February 1, 2023, in Tampa. The tour marks the first time since 2017 that Springsteen and the E Street Band have toured together.

Background

In 2019, following two years of performing solo shows on Broadway, Springsteen announced that he would go on tour with the E Street Band in 2020. The tour would be in support of his 2020 album, ''Letter to You''. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, touring would be put on hold until 2021. In January 2021, Springsteen again announced that, due to the ongoing pandemic, he would not tour with the E Street Band in 2021. Later that year, however, Springsteen returned to Broadway for more solo shows.

On May 23, 2022, an upcoming tour was initially hinted with a short teaser displayed through Springsteen's social media accounts, with an official announcement to come the next day on his webpage.
The tour will commence with dates in the U.S., starting in February 2023, and then visit Europe. The tour is then scheduled to revisit North America starting from August 2023.

Ticket price backlash

Springsteen decided to use Ticketmaster's Verified Fan service for a majority of his North America tour dates to try and eliminate scalpers and bots on the secondary market from buying up tickets and selling them at much higher prices, a problem many of his previous tours have faced. Fans would need to be verified and sent a code, which they would receive in a text message the night before the on-sale date, for the show or shows they planned to attend. Not all fans were guaranteed to receive a code, however; some were placed on a waitlist. Tickets would go on sale at 10 am and once the Verified Fan window for ticket sales ended, which was normally at 3 pm, the remaining tickets would be released to the general public. The first tickets for the U.S. dates went on sale on July 20, 2022, and fans were instantly met with very high ticket prices, such as $4,000–5,000 for mid-range floor seats, and into the four figures for other, less desirable tickets. This was called Ticketmaster's "dynamic pricing" program, in which "platinum tickets", which may be placed anywhere in the arena, from the front section to the back rows, fluctuate in price, in what is said to be ongoing reaction to demand. Some fans were able to buy tickets at face value as they went on sale; however, within minutes of tickets going on sale, the dynamic pricing kicked in and the tickets changed to the platinum tickets or were only available through the secondary market via Ticketmaster’s resale program at much higher prices. Complaints from outraged fans flooded social media and Springsteen-related message boards demanding that Springsteen and his management release a statement in response to this. Guitarist Steven Van Zandt has been the only member of the E Street Band to respond to the situation when he was asked about it on Twitter. He said, “I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis. Dick”. New Jersey congressman Bill Pascrell Jr., who has been a staunch ticket-industry critic, called out Ticketmaster for instituting a "market-based" pricing system that allows ticket costs to rise and fall based on demand. "When Yogi Berra said it’s 'déjà vu all over again,' he could have easily been talking about Ticketmaster and another unwelcome surprise for Springsteen fans. After the long hiatus, we are all excited that Bruce is going back in tour. But Americans have the right to enjoy some live entertainment without getting ripped off. Ticketmaster sees popular events as an opportunity to soak regular Americans", the lawmaker said in a statement.

Tickets for Springsteen's shows in the UK sold out in under 8 hours, but many UK fans took to social media complaining about the same issues fans in the U.S. faced.

On July 24, 2022, Ticketmaster issued a response defending their controversial "dynamic pricing" plan, saying that 88.2% of tickets were sold at fixed prices that ranged from $59.50 to $399 before added service fees and that the average price of all tickets sold so far is $262, with 56% being sold for under $200 face value. Ticketmaster did not dispute reports of tickets being priced through the platinum program for as high as $4–5,000. Ticketmaster is claiming that only 1.3% of total tickets so far have gone for more than $1,000. Ticketmaster further broke down the percentages on the 56% of tickets it says were sold for under $200. It said that 18% were sold under $99, 27% went for between $100–$150, and 11% sold for between $150–$200. "Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers," the company said in their statement.

On July 26, 2022, six days after tickets went on sale in North America, Springsteen's manager Jon Landau issued a statement to ''The New York Times'' defending the price of tickets, saying, "In pricing tickets for this tour, we looked carefully at what our peers have been doing. We chose prices that are lower than some and on par with others. Regardless of the commentary about a modest number of tickets costing $1,000 or more, our true average ticket price has been in the mid-$200 range. I believe that in today’s environment, that is a fair price to see someone universally regarded as among the very greatest artists of his generation."

Shows

Notes

Personnel

The E Street Band

*Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica
*Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizer, accordion
*Nils Lofgren – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, acoustic guitar, background vocals
*Patti Scialfa – Background vocals, some duet vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine
*Garry Tallent – bass guitar, background vocals
*Steven Van Zandt – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, background vocals
*Max Weinberg – drums

with
*Jake Clemons – saxophone, percussion, background vocals
*Soozie Tyrell – violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, background vocals
*Charles Giordano – organ, accordion, electronic glockenspiel

References

2023 concert tours
Bruce Springsteen concert tours

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