Bruce Springsteen General Discussion Thread

Shaneosexual

Paying 100 Euro to see a man talk/sing about "hard times" is like going to McDonald's on the way to WeightWatchers

Dr. Nick

Shaneosexual wrote: »

Over 100 Euro to see a blue collar guy sing about the working man. Not many 66 year old blue collar guys I know have a private jet, millions in the bank and can afford a hair transplant.

Then DON'T GO!

€104 for a standing ticket is pricey, no doubt, but for 3.5 hours of Bruce Springsteen? It's fine with me personally. Seats should be cheaper.

How much are Beyoncé tickets? How long will she play? Will she give a f#ck?
How much is an average ticket for absolutely max. 2 hours for some average band in the Three Arena? €60/70/80?
How much did The Script charge for the sh#te they played in Croker last year?
Have you been to a Bruce Springsteen concert?

To put it into perspecive in terms of entertainment, top clubs in the English premier league charge £50-£120 for 1.5hrs of 'entertainment'

Shaneosexual

Dr. Nick wrote: »

Then DON'T GO!

€104 for a standing ticket is pricey, no doubt, but for 3.5 hours of Bruce Springsteen? It's fine with me personally. Seats should be cheaper.

How much are Beyoncé tickets? How long will she play? Will she give a f#ck?
How much is an average ticket for absolutely max. 2 hours for some average band in the Three Arena? €60/70/80?
How much did The Script charge for the sh#te they played in Croker last year?
Have you been to a Bruce Springsteen concert?

To put it into perspecive in terms of entertainment, top clubs in the English premier league charge £50-£120 for 1.5hrs of 'entertainment'

Yes. I have seen him many times in different countries. Loved all of them. The best concert one could go to. Great performer. But that's exactly what it is: a performance.
It's a bit hard to swallow his schtick about corruption and standing up to the government when he dodges paying proper tax in his own country and is buddies with Obama.
Every aspect of his act is a gimmick. The working man voice/ accent he does, pouring water on himself to make it appear that he is sweating more than he actually is, the hair dye.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great show, but some people seem to buy his act as the real Bruce. The "man of the people" so to speak.
What you actually pay for is a multimillionaire playing the part of a blue collar worker, and he does a great and entertaining job!
To me, over 100 euro is now too much for such a privilege so I will not pay to see him this time.
It will be a fantastic gig no doubt.
Enjoy the show!

Remember, that's all it is.

Exclamation Marc

There are Beyoncé tickets going on sale tomorrow for around €450...
And I'm fairly sure that's just good circle standing and some crappy merch.

100 in perspective is not that bad.

The Nal

The length of time he plays for doesn't necessarily make for a better gig. Hes been closing with an 8 minute version of Shout on this tour. Thats something we can all do without.

paulie21

The Nal wrote:

The length of time he plays for doesn't necessarily make for a better gig. Hes been closing with an 8 minute version of Shout on this tour. Thats something we can all do without.

Yeah I've noticed that surely would be better getting in two more of his classics maybe even a sign request

adrian522

The Nal wrote: »

The length of time he plays for doesn't necessarily make for a better gig. Hes been closing with an 8 minute version of Shout on this tour. Thats something we can all do without.

I'm amazed you are going to this gig given how poor value you think it is and how little you seem to think of most songs on "The River".

If you think a gig is bad value just don't go, it's really that simple.

The Nal

adrian522 wrote: »

I'm amazed you are going to this gig given how poor value you think it is and how little you seem to think of most songs on "The River".

If you think a gig is bad value just don't go, it's really that simple.

Its borderline, very close. I like the River but theres 5-6 turkeys on there.

And no, its not that simple. I'm happy theres a bit of noise about the ticket prices. Long may it continue.

EyesClosed

The Nal wrote: »

Its borderline, very close. I like the River but theres 5-6 turkeys on there.

And no, its not that simple. I'm happy theres a bit of noise about the ticket prices. Long may it continue.

I am not a huge fan of spending all my money on gigs, but with the horrific state the music industry is in when it comes to album sales, they kinda need to push up the price of live music.

The Nal

EyesClosed wrote: »

I am not a huge fan of spending all my money on gigs, but with the horrific state the music industry is in when it comes to album sales, they kinda need to push up the price of live music.

This is a promotional tour for The River boxset. Bruce getting paid at both ends.
Bruce is worth well over $200m. He earned $80 in 2014 alone from touring.

Croker is 100 quid x 80,000. (Its more actually but thats nice and easy). Thats 8 million quid. 80% roughly to go to Bruce. 6 million per night. Or a guarantee of that amount, whichever is higher. :eek: Not including the 90% he gets from merchandise either.

So yeah, 100 a head is a little excessive. Lots of people can't afford to go. Thats the genuinely sad thing about it.

EyesClosed

The Nal wrote: »

This is a promotional tour for The River boxset. Bruce getting paid at both ends.
Bruce is worth well over m. He earned in 2014 alone from touring.

Croker is 100 quid x 80,000. (Its more actually but thats nice and easy). Thats 8 million quid. 80% roughly to go to Bruce. 6 million per night. Or a guarantee of that amount, whichever is higher. :eek: Not including the 90% he gets from merchandise either.

So yeah, 100 a head is a little excessive. Lots of people can't afford to go. Thats the genuinely sad thing about it.

But you are missing the point, nearly all concerts are that price not just Bruce, if you want to go GO, if not DON'T.
Same with a football game, gaa match, etc etc etc etc

leakyboots

EyesClosed wrote: »

But you are missing the point, nearly all concerts are that price not just Bruce, if you want to go GO, if not DON'T.
Same with a football game, gaa match, etc etc etc etc

But if someone doesn't make a stand or complain... where does it stop?

PTH2009

Will we ever see Bruce indoors in Dublin ???.

He would have to do 11/12 3arena shows to maximise the Croke Park attendence. Not impossible but very unlikely to happen.

A intimate gig in vicar street or the olympia would sell out in seconds.

Aiken are sorted for the summer with these Bruce shows. There only other big outdoor show atm is rod Stewart in kilkenny and he is also playing the 3arena in November which is a bold move

horseburger

The Nal wrote: »

This is a promotional tour for The River boxset. Bruce getting paid at both ends.
Bruce is worth well over $200m. He earned $80 in 2014 alone from touring.

Croker is 100 quid x 80,000. (Its more actually but thats nice and easy). Thats 8 million quid. 80% roughly to go to Bruce. 6 million per night. Or a guarantee of that amount, whichever is higher. :eek: Not including the 90% he gets from merchandise either.

So yeah, 100 a head is a little excessive. Lots of people can't afford to go. Thats the genuinely sad thing about it.

Can you please include a link to verify the details you have written on the percentage of money that Bruce Springsteen receives from this gig.

This is not to suggest that you are wrong in what you are stating, it's just that I am curious to find out, where the detail has been stated, or outlined.

Can it be verified - for concerts in general, or in the case of the Bruce Springsteen concerts - how the breakdown is done, in terms of how the money, generated from ticket sales and merchandise, is distributed?

For example; how is it divided between band members, the bands' own stage and sound crew, promoters, venue hire, venue staff, the venue stage and sound crew and the merchandise company?

I guess Ticketmaster gets the service handling fee per ticket sold, but does Ticketmaster receive anything else along with the service handling fee?

The €1 facility charge, that The 3Arena and The Olympia have started doing, in the last eight months or so, is the most recent additional charge added to each ticket sold, so I guess those two venues get €1 per ticket for every gig in both venues?

The Nal

horseburger wrote: »

Can you please include a link to verify the details you have written on the percentage of money that Bruce Springsteen receives from this gig.

I can't as its not published, but thats about the industry standard for most big acts. Give or take a few % here and there. He grossed $81m on the last tour and would've had to pay the band, production etc from that. Although as there was a new album the record company may have fronted cash for that sort of thing. Or some/a lot/most of it. He doesn't have to pay a support act either.

So usually he'll take a flat fee or a percentage of the gate, whichever is higher.

Below is a (admittedly general) graph of a 70 dollar ticket. Live Nation claim their artists get 85-90% of the gate.

adrian522

leakyboots wrote: »

But if someone doesn't make a stand or complain... where does it stop?

Better to make a stand by not going or organising some sort of boycott than complaining on forums and paying for the ticket anyway. That seems pointless to me.

The Nal

adrian522 wrote: »

Better to make a stand by not going or organising some sort of boycott than complaining on forums and paying for the ticket anyway. That seems pointless to me.

The only real way to do it would be to do what the Romans did for the Babs Streisand gig and use consumer groups to complain and suggest the gig being cancelled, which happened. Sort of like the way SIPTU work here.

Its all fairly pointless here considering it sold out so quick. Id usually go to both (or 3 when he plays) shows but only going on the Sunday this time. I'm sure Bruce will get the message when he doesn't see me there on Friday. You can thank me on the next tour when you're paying less.

Worth noting that his Rome gig is far from sold out. Tickets have been on sale since Saturday.

Shaneosexual

adrian522 wrote: »

Better to make a stand by not going or organising some sort of boycott than complaining on forums and paying for the ticket anyway. That seems pointless to me.

Exactly. But if you do complain you get the usual "well then don't go!" "He plays for 3 hours!" kind of responses from his fans.
I think the big problem with the high ticket prices for this particular concert is the fact that it's Bruce. Who is supposed to be an everyman, regular Joe.

Shaneosexual

Another thing that put me off the Bruce experience is his obsessive fans who seem to think they are better than the casual fans just because they follow him on tour.
Case in point, one time he played the RDS I went early that morning to queue for the pit. There were about 10 people there. About an hour later a large group of fans arrived and went straight to the top. They had numbers written on the back of their hands. A few of the people there advised them there was a queue and their response was that they had started to queue the night before. Bruce had played the night before in the RDS and immediately after it this group of fans congregated in the car park and handed out these numbers to each other and arranged to meet up for a "count" starting the next afternoon at 12. They went on to explain that they do this all the time and follow Bruce around the world as they are "Bruce's Army". Not one of these people were Irish by the way.
When people complained to security about them they were told that the numbers had started to be given out the night before so all of us that arrived that morning must get a number from the foreign fans who arrived in the afternoon.
This is not an official thing by the way, this is just his fans making up their own rules. And the security just go along with it as it makes their job easier.
So if a guy queues for Bruce at 8am the morning of the concert and there is no one else about, he is standing there thinking he is the first in the queue. Then 4 hours later a group of fans arrive along and say " we started queuing last night" stand in front of him and write a number on his hand. Suddenly he is gone from number 1 to number 50.
I've seen these same fans at Bruce gigs in England do the same thing. They make up their own rules to guarantee that they are up front.
They are at their hotel asleep while the peasants are out doing the real queuing.
(Also, it's a little disconcerting that they have obviously not washed since the night before )

The Nal

Shaneosexual wrote: »

They had numbers written on the back of their hands.

Yes its called "getting a number". Means they can get near the rail. Spend all night so they can be 15 foot closer.

Having met a lot of them at various gigs, they're sort of nerdy. Or anoraks at best. 45 year old virgins who live at home with their mum and have their packed lunches with them for the day. "I was this close at X show" sort of thing. "Oh you weren't at that show? You missed out" etc. Like children bragging.

Complete cúnts.

leakyboots

adrian522 wrote: »

Better to make a stand by not going or organising some sort of boycott than complaining on forums and paying for the ticket anyway. That seems pointless to me.

I'm not going... I'll be sitting in a mate's balcony looking into Croker

Shaneosexual

The Nal wrote: »

Yes its called "getting a number". Means they can get near the rail. Spend all night so they can be 15 foot closer.

Having met a lot of them at various gigs, they're sort of nerdy. Or anoraks at best. 45 year old virgins who live at home with their mum and have their packed lunches with them for the day. "I was this close at X show" sort of thing. "Oh you weren't at that show? You missed out" etc. Like children bragging.

Complete cúnts.

Absolutely. If I was going this time, what is stopping you and I from standing outside Croke Park right now and saying we are handing out numbers. I am number one in the queue and you are number two. Then we arrange a count on the day of the concert in May and take our place at the top of the queue.
Same thing as what these people are doing, as crazy as it sounds.

horseburger

The Nal wrote: »

I can't as its not published, but thats about the industry standard for most big acts. Give or take a few % here and there. He grossed $81m on the last tour and would've had to pay the band, production etc from that. Although as there was a new album the record company may have fronted cash for that sort of thing. Or some/a lot/most of it. He doesn't have to pay a support act either.

So usually he'll take a flat fee or a percentage of the gate, whichever is higher.

Below is a (admittedly general) graph of a 70 dollar ticket. Live Nation claim their artists get 85-90% of the gate.

thanks for the details. I was just wondering, in the case where there are support acts as part of tours, do support acts not usually get paid by the promoters.

Am I right in thinking, in many cases, support acts pay tour agencies to get onto tours by headline acts.

It brings up another interesting issue of how much do support acts get paid for doing shows?

Very often when bands tour the UK or Europe, the support band - who plays every show on these UK and Europe tours - may not be brought over to play the dates in Dublin or Belfast, and another support band is put in place to do the shows here.

I'm wondering, when that happens, do the support bands decide not to come over here, due to issues like the cost of travelling and accommodation.

If they do come over here, do they cover their own cost of touring and accommodation themselves?

I guess if they travel by tour bus they don't need to book accommodation.

I'm just wondering do support bands end up losing money?

In cases where support bands who do the other tour dates - but don't play the shows here - do the local support bands who play the Dublin and Belfast shows, get paid by the promoters of the shows?

Shaneosexual

This quote really tells you who the real Bruce is

"Now, I burn money, and that calls for huge amounts of cash flow. But, I also have a ludicrous image of myself that keeps me from truly cashing in."
-Bruce Springsteen


So, really, he is very protective of the fake persona he plays in public as he knows that is what keeps the money coming in.

The Nal

horseburger wrote: »

thanks for the details. I was just wondering, in the case where there are support acts as part of tours, do support acts not usually get paid by the promoters.

Am I right in thinking, in many cases, support acts pay tour agencies to get onto tours by headline acts.

It brings up another interesting issue of how much do support acts get paid for doing shows?

Very often when bands tour the UK or Europe, the support band - who plays every show on these UK and Europe tours - may not be brought over to play the dates in Dublin or Belfast, and another support band is put in place to do the shows here.

I'm wondering, when that happens, do the support bands decide not to come over here, due to issues like the cost of travelling and accommodation.

If they do come over here, do they cover their own cost of touring and accommodation themselves?

I guess if they travel by tour bus they don't need to book accommodation.

I'm just wondering do support bands end up losing money?

In cases where support bands who do the other tour dates - but don't play the shows here - do the local support bands who play the Dublin and Belfast shows, get paid by the promoters of the shows?

All depends but most support bands play for cheap/free and are chosen by the headliner, record label, promo company etc. The idea is that they get exposure that they wouldn't normally see at their own gigs.

Sometimes the local promoter will choose a band. And also pay them fcuk all.

leakyboots

I doubt the band (as in Bruce's one) gets paid that much. A guy I know plays with a multi-million seller singer songwriter's band, a fella who can charge as much as Bruce, and he gets not a lot more per gig than you would for a decent corporate event. Was shocked when I heard.

The artist takes the lion's share

Wooderson

There is an agreed system in place for Bruce's pit queue. Some of those fans give up huge amounts of time to bring structure to the process.

PTH2009

Wooderson wrote: »

There is an agreed system in place for Bruce's pit queue. Some of those fans give up huge amounts of time to bring structure to the process.

these people who follow there fav bands around must have money to burn or else they sleep in the cheapest hotels/hostels. What about there familys, jobs etc. There were some loopers on the Springsteen & I documentary movie

Wooderson

PTH2009 wrote: »

these people who follow there fav bands around must have money to burn or else they sleep in the cheapest hotels/hostels. What about there familys, jobs etc. There were some loopers on the Springsteen & I documentary movie

****e comment chief.

Shaneosexual

Wooderson wrote: »

There is an agreed system in place for Bruce's pit queue. Some of those fans give up huge amounts of time to bring structure to the process.

An agreed system among themselves. So it is not in any way an official pit system by the concert promoter, in this case Aiken.
If a fan who has never seen Bruce before and mainly knows the Greatest Hits album, arrives the morning of the concert and is first in line for the pit, what right do a group of fans have to get him to move to the back of the line because they have "a system" and are after being to 200 shows?
If their pit system is not confirmed by Aiken, why should everyone go along with it?
I go to Tesco every week but that doesn't mean I have the right to walk to the top of the queue and say to everyone "I started queuing last week after I was in here buying my Kimberly Biscuits and a Granny Smith, so I am in fact at the top of this queue now."
That is not how a queue works.
Instead of bringing "structure to the process" it represents a breakdown of the process.