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Bruce Springsteen has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Ticketmaster’s surge pricing for tickets to his tour next year with The E Street Band, which saw prices of more than $5000 per ticket.

He says “What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, ‘Go out and see what everybody else is doing. Let’s charge a little less.’ That’s generally the directions. They go out and set it up. For the past 49 years or however long we’ve been playing, we’ve pretty much been out there under market value. I’ve enjoyed that. It’s been great for the fans.

“This time I told them, ‘Hey, we’re 73 years old… I want to do what everybody else is doing, my peers.’ So that’s what happened. That’s what they did.

“But ticket buying has gotten very confusing, not just for the fans, but for the artists also. And the bottom line is that most of our tickets are totally affordable. They’re in that affordable range. We have those tickets that are going to go for that [higher] price somewhere anyway. The ticket broker or someone is going to be taking that money. I’m going, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?’

“It created an opportunity for that to occur. And so at that point, we went for it. I know it was unpopular with some fans. But if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.”

And as for his fans who had some unkind things to say about him, he says, Well, I’m old. I take a lot of things in stride [laughs]. You don’t like to be criticized. You certainly don’t like to be the poster boy for high ticket prices. It’s the last thing you prefer to be. But that’s how it went. You have to own the decisions you have made and go out and just continue to do your best. And that was my take on it. I think if folks come to the show, they’re going to have a good time.”

But he says that going forward he and his team will “be talking about” ticket pricing. “It changes from tour to tour. We will be coming back. I’m sure we’ll be playing outside somewhat. That’ll be a whole other discussion when that comes around. I don’t want to say anything now, but we’ll see what happens.”

Springsteen starts his first tour with the E Street Band in six years on February 1st in Tampa.

REUTERS PHOTO

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