For concert tickets, Boss saves best for last
Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune
May 11, 2005
Usually one of the hottest tickets in town, Bruce Springsteen's concert Tuesday night at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center was a disappointment to area ticket scalpers -- and to some fans who don't appreciate his politics or folkier solo albums.
The Boss probably wouldn't have had it any other way, though.
Many of the 7,996 attendees to the E-Street-less solo-acoustic show found tickets surprisingly easy to come by, even though it was declared sold out the day tickets went on sale.
"I just went to the ticket window to see if I'd have any luck, and I did," said St. Paul resident Wendy Burt, who was outside selling a worse seat she had bought last month. She expected to lose money on the deal but didn't care.
Rock's most diligent battler of ticket scalpers, Springsteen made sure his diehards got the best seats thanks to some late-addition seats and a cumbersome ticket sales policy.
He required that all concertgoers with seats on the arena floor -- 1,264 fans -- check in with a photo ID and wear a wristband. He also kept a two-per-person limit on ticket sales.
Most fans didn't mind the extra procedures. "As long as I'm the one who got the tickets and not some scalper, I'll do whatever Bruce wants," said Alexa Jones of Minneapolis.
Backstage before the concert, Springsteen called the policies "a balancing act between the accessibility and the chore" for fans to buy tickets.
His manager, Jon Landau, said that the lack of floor seats on eBay is proof the practice is working. "The evidence is what we're doing is having a positive effect for fans," Landau said.
Local ticket-broker companies were stung by the policies. "He's definitely making it harder for us," said Brian Obert, co-owner of Ticket King in Hudson, Wis., which resells tickets to Twin Cities-area events. Ticket King's website had some upper-level tickets listed below face value, while some more prime seats were only $20 or so above cost.
Some of Springsteen's Minnesota fans, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, were turned off by his participation in last year's Vote for Change tour. The concerts raised money for the MoveOn PAC and other groups positioned to help Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
"I don't agree with some of [his politics], but I don't understand how some people could be surprised by it -- he's always done it," said Paul Becker of Hugo, who also was at the Vote for Change concert at the Xcel Center last October.
Tuesday's concert was mostly apolitical, save for one new song called "Part Man, Part Monkey." It featured barbed lyrics about President Bush and the evolution/creationism debate.
St. Paul fan Tom Montgomery, whose first Springsteen show was at the State Theatre in 1978, didn't see the political backlash or lower demand for tickets as negatives.
"Anybody who stays away just because they're a Republican obviously doesn't get Bruce, so good riddance," Montgomery said. "The Republicans are probably the ones who are driving up ticket prices in the first place."
Chris Riemenschneider is at chrisr@startribune.com.
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