Putting a price on The Boss.
Thousands of Bruce Springsteen fans across the country scrambled this morning to find tickets to the rock legend’s upcoming 2024 gigs, with a lot having similar complaints.
The Boss announced last week three Irish dates for 2024 off the back of his incredible sold-out run for three nights in Dublin’s RDS last summer.
However, fans were shocked to see the price of the tickets amid the release, with some of them nearly triple what he charged for his 2016 Irish dates.
Some Irish Bruce Springsteen fans make big complaint as tickets go on sale.
Bruce’s first show in the Republic sees him travel to Boucher Road in Belfast on May 9, with all standing tickets for the gig set at £126 (€145).
The next stop is Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, where he played twice in 2013. Standing tickets for the show kicked off at €143.80 and all seats were on sale for €168.80. Tickets are now sold out.
His third show in Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh show saw seats ranging from €153.80 to €168.80 and standing tickets costing €143.80. Tickets are also sold out for this show.
Bruce finishes up at Dublin’s Croke Park, with fans baulking a whopping €146.25, which (at the time of writing) is currently the cheapest option.
Tickets for Springsteen’s RDS gigs in May cost in the range of €96 to €156 each.
Tickets are now sold out for Bruce @Springsteen and The E Street Band at @PaircUiCha0imh.
We still have tickets for Bruce @Springsteen and The E Street Band at Boucher Road on 9 May and Croke Park on 19 May 2024 but don’t delay, they’re going fast!
? https://t.co/JaFZZoM8rA pic.twitter.com/3l9tawCVO5— Ticketmaster Ireland (@TicketmasterIre) November 6, 2023
Bruce Springsteen fans complain about Irish concert prices
The price of the upcoming gigs have had some fans up in arms, with some saying they wouldn’t be buying tickets due to the “shocking” cost.
Speaking to Rolling Stone about ticket prices, Bruce Springsteen said that the majority of tickets for his shows are “totally affordable”, adding that “if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.”
Back in 2020, Chief Executive of MCD Denis Desmond, told the Irish Times that ticket prices in Ireland can be affected by insurance costs for area gigs.
Insurance for an arena gig in the Republic is €7,000 compared to €500 in Belfast while insurance costs for a stadium gig in the Republic costs €50,000 compared to €5,000 in Northern Ireland.
However, according to Mr Desmond, the high insurance costs only increase a ticket price of about €1 per concertgoer.
Multiple other factors come into consideration for the increased pricing of tickets, including artist fees, crew, venue rental, staff, production costs as well as marketing and promotion. Inflation also comes into consideration as a factor.
The drop in physical music sales and rise of streaming giants like Spotify has also affected the bottom line of artists, with most of their money now coming from live performances – an element of the music industry that was historically undervalued.
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