As a fan and dyed-in-wool New Jersian, I count Bruce Springsteen as one of the biggest influences on my songwriting (and I on his). And although I surely love his older stuff better (something I say of most musical artists I follow) and would not go out to catch his just announced “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour (less because of the possible politically charged nature of the show and more because seeing Bruce fronting such a huge band when I enjoyed him plenty of times with the nearly original, and smaller, E-street band) I don’t damn the man for no longer being a working class hero (if he ever really was) or the fact that he is now supposedly worth 1.2 billion. Bruce, if anybody, has worked his ass off on stage for decades, writes and records music he believes in and has never ‘dialed it in,’ as far as I have been able to determine.
And he is a decent enough dude when you meet him out and about as I know some folks personally who have done so.
But I have to agree; ticket prices for his tour are just too high for me, especially in light of this statement he released just recently: “We are living through dark, disturbing and dangerous times, but do not despair — the cavalry is coming! … We will be rocking your town in celebration and in defense of America — American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream — all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government in Washington, D.C. Everyone, regardless of where you stand or what you believe in, is welcome …”
Not all are welcome, really. Only people with the bucks to go are. But not to beat up on Bruce (I’ll get to that in a second) in my humble opinion and those of plenty of people I talk to about this, prices are way too high for any concert these days, sports events and Broadway.
But where I do come down on The Boss here is that, given how much money he has, he could be taking what seems to be a very important tour to him, a “celebration,” as he calls it, in “defense of America — American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream” and all that b.s. and maybe bypass the machine of Ticketmaster.
How do I know this? Because I saw Prince do this years ago on his “Black and White” Tour. And the purple sprite did not have as much public attention on him at the time as Springsteen does presently nor the billions.
I’m just throwing the possibility out there, especially in light of this news: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/live-nation-settles-antitrust-case-with-doj-avoids-ticketmaster-breakup/ar-AA1XPzXT
I don’t really have an answer for all this, just a hope. When I travel around the globe on my world tours of enormo-domes attended by thousands, I really don’t have any of these concerns, seeing as my concerts happen only in my fevered imagination. I just feel that if anyone has the power (see $) and the care, maybe somebody like Bruce Springsteen could do something to change things as much as he seems to want change and fairness and all that b.s.
Here’s hoping, Bruce.
