Bruce Springsteen defends high ticket prices for his 2023 tour

The boss has finally addressed the sky-high prices for his upcoming 2023 tour.

For the first time in his career, 73-year-old Bruce Springsteen told Rolling Stone that he had opted to use Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model to sell tickets. This allows for extreme inflation based on demand.

But fans weren’t happy with the varied ticket prices — some reached as much as $5,000 — when they went on sale in July.

“What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, ‘Go out and see what the others are doing. Let’s ask for a little less.’ That’s generally the direction,” he told the magazine. “They go out and set it up. For the past 49 years, or however long we’ve been playing, we’ve been pretty much under market value. I enjoyed that. It was great for the fans.

“This time I said to them, ‘Hey, we’re 73 years old. The boys are here. I want to do what everyone else is doing, my colleagues.’ So this is what happened. They did” Springsteen laughed.

Noting that buying tickets has become confusing for both fans and artists, he claimed that “most of our tickets are absolutely affordable.

“They are in this affordable range. We have the tickets that fit for it [higher] price somewhere anyway. The ticket broker or someone else will take that money. I’m like, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t the money go to the guys who’ll sweat three hours a night up there for it?’ ‘ he reasoned.

While the average Springsteen ticket fetched a fan $250, the Born in the USA legend said he knew the decision to sell seats this way “might be unpopular with some fans,” but it is yet confident his performances are worth the investment.

“But if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can get your money back,” he joked.

While Springsteen admitted that he “don’t like being the poster boy for high ticket prices,” he revealed he hasn’t completely written off dynamic pricing for future tours. But that discussion, he said, will not happen any time soon.

His comments come as Ticketmaster faces criticism – and an investigation by the Justice Department – of the fiasco that was the presale for Taylor Swift’s forthcoming Eras Tour.

The ticketing company reported that more than 14 million Swifties flocked to its website on Tuesday, resulting in insanely long waits and limited – and expensive – tickets for those selected to attend the verified fan presale.

The company then canceled its public ticket sales for the singer’s forthcoming tour, outraging millions of would-be concert-goers.

Swift addressed the disaster on Friday, blaming Ticketmaster, which reportedly repeatedly told its warehouse it could handle the heavy demand.

“It really pisses me off that a lot of them [fans] feel like they went through multiple bear attacks to get them,” the “Shake It Off” singer wrote in a statement posted to her Instagram Story.

Earlier this week, Springsteen addressed speculation on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon that he and Swift might stop by and perform at each other’s shows from time to time.

He said he would attend a Swift show, but only because his daughter “will make sure of it,” adding, “She’s always welcome on E Street.”

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band 2023 Tour begins February 1, 2023 in Tampa, Florida and ends July 25 in Monza, Italy.