No more sticker shock? Springsteen tickets for MetLife Stadium shows go on sale tomorrow

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See you in the swamps of Jersey?

If you want to purchase tickets for the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, a fan who has experience on the matter has some advice: Don't panic.

“I tell people to go in there when they go on sale," said Michael Elliott of Cincinnati. "If there's something in your price range, grab them. If you see tickets you can't afford, don't buy them. Just wait until closer to the show.”

Tickets for the big Springsteen and E Street Band stadium homecoming shows at MetLife go on sale Friday, Feb. 24, 10 a.m. for the Aug. 30 show and noon for Sept. 1, through Ticketmaster.com for “Verified Fans.” Ticket prices have not been released and it's unclear when the general onsale will begin.

Bruce Springsteen performs at the BOK Center on Tuesday, Feb. 21, in Tulsa, Okla.
Bruce Springsteen performs at the BOK Center on Tuesday, Feb. 21, in Tulsa, Okla.

Some fans had sticker shock when tickets for the E Street Band's current arena tour went on sale in July. The price of some floor seats rose to more than $5,000 due to dynamic pricing, which adjusts pricing in real time due to demand.

So far, there's been no $5,000 tickets sold for the band's North American stadium and arena shows, which were announced earlier this month and started going on sale last week.

“I'm looking at it right now, and there are still tons of face value tickets available for purchase,” said Brandon Thompson, editor of the Boss-themed Blog It All Night website, regarding the two September shows at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, which went on sale Thursday, Feb. 23. Face value tickets started at $65 before fees, and went up to $349 for general admission.

Some tickets were dynamically priced, Thompson said, but those prices did not exceed $1,450.

Bruce Springsteen 2023 North America tour dates.
Bruce Springsteen 2023 North America tour dates.

“I wonder if they did put a cap on the platinum pricing,” Thompson said. “I'm also wondering if it's the demand, too, for Pittsburgh. Because he's also playing Cleveland, State College (Pa.). He's playing Philly. Maybe with two arena shows the demand isn't as high so they dropped (the price) a little.”

The Springsteen ticket purchasing experience, and prices, vary from city to city. Ticket prices went down to as little as $7 on the secondary market for the band's Feb. 21 show at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

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Yet platinum tickets for newly announced area shows in Canada went up to near $2,000. Platinum, but not dynamically priced, tickets are on sale for Springsteen's Aug. 9 and 11 shows at Wrigley Field in Chicago from $525 to $1,700. Those are being sold through the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball website, not through Ticketmaster.

The Boss' shows Aug. 16 and 18 at Citizen's Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia go on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, through www.mlb.com/phillies/tickets/concerts/bruce-springsteen.

“They like to make you think a show is selling out,” said Elliott of Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing system. “So it's either miss your favorite artist or get caught up in a feeding frenzy of what the dynamic ticket prices are. It's a fear tactic, and ... fans don't want to miss out on our favorite artists, so we're willing to pay more than we can afford or more than the ticket is worth just to get that concert fix.”

The trick is not to make an impulsive purchase, said Elliott, who posted his tips on the Everything Bruce Springsteen Facebook group.

“More tickets will be released — they always are,” said Elliott, who goes to 30 concerts a year. “I've never once seen a concert sell out on it's opening day — never in my life, and I don't think I ever will. As these shows come closer, like in Tulsa where you had tickets for $7, I think at that point so many people were frustrated with the process, with the resale process, and frustrated with the prices, that by the time these shows roll around they don't bother to see where ticket prices are now.”

Tickets are still in the $500 range on the secondary market for Springsteen's April 14 show at the Prudential Center in Newark.

More:Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 'make the most of right now' to open tour: Review

Still, many Springsteen fans granted “Verified Fan” status by Ticketmaster are ready for their sunny days at the upcoming stadium shows.

“It seems like (ticket prices) are a little more reasonable this time," Thompson said, "and more standard admission tickets are being put out there rather than the platinum tickets for astronomical prices, which is a positive thing to see.”

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen tickets for MetLife Stadium shows go on sale