Bruce Springsteen recently announced that he and his “wrecking crew”, the E Street Band, will be the final musical act before Giant Stadium in New Jersey gets demolished after the 2009 football season. If you are a fan of Bruce, you know that he is going to tear that show up. The rock icon has sold out 16 shows at that stadium and 44 shows at the nearby Izod Center. Three shows have been scheduled for September 30, October 2 and October 3. Tickets for the shows will go on sale on June 1. I hope they’re not selling on Ticketmaster. They’ve been screwing up sales for Bruce a couple of times now.
Fans who shelled out some big bucks to see Bruce Springsteen in concert on May 18th in Washington DC have found themselves ticketless. Ticket reselling giants TicketsNow, owned by Ticketmaster, sold a number of “premium seats” to Springsteen fans but oversold the concert in the process. This isn’t the first time that the Boss has run into trouble with the ticket companies. When tickets went on sale for his tour in February, buyers were automatically redirected to the TicketsNow website if the fan’s seating selection was sold out on Ticketmaster and paid up to 3 times the original price. The premium ticket holders whose seats were oversold in DC have been offered both refunds and tickets for the show in the cheap seats.
Last week, some businessman in New Jersey filed for divorce from his wife Ann Kelly and stated in court documents that the reason was because she was having an affair with Bruce Springsteen. It’s not much of a surprise because the rocker has been rumored to have had multiple affairs in the past. Reports even say that he hooked up with his current wife, Patti, while he was still married to his first wife, Julianne Phillips. In efforts to stop infidelity rumors, Bruce reaffirmed his love for his wife by posting a message on his official website, though he didn’t deny having the affair. Now, Ann is speaking out and claiming that the two are just friends. However, an insider claims something different “There have been rumors going around the area for more than a year that they had gotten way too close after meeting at a local gym.” So what’s the truth really?
The famous British festival was one step away from being canceled. Michael Eavis, its founder, had this to say about the dire situation the music event had reached: “Last year I thought that maybe we’d got to the end and we’d have to bite the bullet and fold it all up. A lot of the bands were saying Glastonbury had become too big, too muddy and too horrible. At one time the bands used to come on board.” However, it seems that the festival was saved by none other than Bruce Springsteen who is confirmed for the 2009 edition, as Michael Eavis relates: “I was prepared to walk away. But to come back from the dead of last year to sell out this year is amazing. Getting Springsteen as a headliner is so exciting. I saw him play two-and-a-half hours in Cardiff and that’s what turned me on to the idea of having him.” Bruce Springsteen? That’s what it takes to get a big, muddy and horrible festival out of the grave? Well, whatever gets Michael Eavis’ boat rowing… as he himself admits. Apparently it does so for a lot of other people since the festival already sold-out.
Bruce Springsteen recently opened up to Bob Costas as to why he decided to perform at this past Sunday’s Super Bowl after repeatedly turning down past invites. The rocker bluntly answers with “I have an album to promote dummy. It’s not rocket science.” And here I thought he was one of those few rockers who did everything with integrity. Here’s his Super Bowl performance brimming with a shameless plug for his new album. Money truly drives people to do some very interesting things. Oh well, at least he didn’t have any wardrobe malfunctions to have people talking about him even more.
Almost everything has been hit by the recession but concerts seem to be doing ok for now. Most other businesses are already floundering but the concert industry is actually boasting one of its best years ever as it scored just under $4 billion worldwide, a 13% increase from last year. Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna are the top 3 when it comes to ticket sales. Billboard’s concert industry writer figures that it’s because live music is “not something you can get a fix for somewhere else.” He was pretty quick to warn though that “it would be crazy to think that the economy and unemployment won’t impact ticket sales at some point.”
