Tickets for Benidorm, Spain will go on sale March 6th

If you are planning to attend a show under the hot Benidorm sun, watch out. Tickets will go on sale on Friday March 6th at 10am thru the brand new Ticketmaster.es website. Prices are 65 € for GA, and 78 € for reserved seats, plus Ticketmaster fees (9 €).

Glastonbury performance confirmed

It's official now: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will headline the Saturday night show at the Glastonbury Festival (June 27th). Though tickets are soldout, some additional tickets will be on sale on April 5th thru Seetickets.

New albums with Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen has just released a brand new album, Working on a dream, but he'll be featured also in some other albums very soon:

-"Odd Squad and Company - On the Beat Vol. II"
This is a benefit published by Odd Squadd. Read more. Includes "Point Blank".

-Bernie Williams "Moving Forward"
Includes a live version of "Glory Days" recorded with Springsteen himself at the Joe Torre's Safe at Home benefit concert in November 2007. Read more. To be released: April 14th.

-"Bushfire Aid: Artists for the Bushfire Appeal" (Sony Music/Australia) Released: Febr.20th. Includes "The Rising", plus tracks by Billy Joel, Beyoncé, Paul Kelly, Rose Tattoo, The Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil and others. All money raised from the release will go directly to the Salvation Army Bushfire Appeal.

Check out also the excellent website Boss tracks, where you can read an interesting article and interview with Eddie Floyd, author of such classics as "Raise your hand" and "Knock on wood". Eddie recalls his encounter onstage with Bruce in Memphis in 1976.

The Wrestler: new official video

Bruce Springsteen "The Wrestler" - Official Video

Hangin' Out on E Street

The Gaslight Anthem, Ted Leo, Against Me!, The Bouncing Souls, Mat Kearney, Juliana Hatfield or Wyclef Jean are some of the artists that render tribute to The Boss via the Bruce Springsteen official website.

"Hangin' Out on E Street" is a new page in Bruce's site, where you can see videos from the above mentioned artists, and where more and more videos will be added in the forthcoming weeks, with a wide variety of artists such as Pete Yorn, Valencia, Josh Ritter or Calexico.

Check now Bruce's official web site to see those videos. Click here.

Harvey Goldsmith: watch out for more UK shows

UK promoter Harvey Goldsmith has issued a press release today. Their words:

"You would have read today that Bruce Springsteen is playing Hyde Park Calling this summer. Please note that our office is not involved in this event as we do not have the rights to Hyde Park. Watch out for news on other UK dates"

HarveyGoldsmith.com February 12th 2009

Sevilla and Benidorm shows switch dates

The dates for the shows in Sevilla and Benidorm have switched.

These are the new, and definitive, valid dates:

Tuesday 28th July, Estadio Olímpico de La Cartuja, Sevilla, Spain
Thursday 30th July, Estadio Les Foietes, Benidorm, Spain


No info yet regarding the onsale date for these shows. Of all the announced spanish shows, only Bilbao will be onsale on Febr.27th at Ticketmaster/TickTackTicket.

Bruce's Super Bowl Journal

Along with many fantastic photos from Danny Clinch, the official Springsteen website has published Bruce's journal from the Super Bowl.

Great reading. Don't miss it. It's here.

Springsteen to headline "Hard Rock Calling" festival in London

A show in the UK has been announced at last. Bruce will headline the Hard Rock Calling festival, to be held at London's Hyde Park on Sunday June 28th.

Dave Matthews Band and The Gaslight Anthem will also perform that night. Pre-sale begins on Thursday February 12th at Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The regular onsale will be Friday Febr.13th at 9am.

Springsteen gets another Grammy

Bruce Springsteen won yesterday the Grammy Award for "Girls in their summer clothes", in the category of 'Best Rock Song'.

Springsteen will play in Switzerland on June 30th

Swiss fans take note: June 30 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the Stade de Suisse in Bern. Tickets go on sale Friday February 13th at Ticketcorner, according to the Blick website.

The Danny Fund

Bruce Springsteen has taped a video-ad to help and support the recently created "The Danny Fund".

After seeing the outpouring of support following Danny's death, Bruce Springsteen, the E Street Band, Danny's family and Dr. Chapman decided Danny's vision could make an even greater impact. Together with Debra and Leon Black, founders of the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) they created the Danny Fund to bring melanoma to the forefront of public awareness and to fund research with top melanoma doctors from around the world.


Visit The Danny Fund website

Watch Bruce's video

"Working on a dream", straight to #1

The new Springsteen album debuted in the US Charts at #1, with 224,000 copies sold according to Soundscan, knocking out Taylor Swift from the top of the charts. The album is #1 in 14 countries: Spain, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, New Zealand and Israel.

Read more:
Yahoo News

Playback at the Super Bowl?

According to an article published in The Chicago Tribune, Bruce Springsteen sang over pre-recorded parts at the Super Bowl.

Apparently this is a common practice at the Super Bowl performances. The bands record their performance during rehearsals, to avoid any technical problems during the actual performance in front of millions of TV viewers.

Read more in detail:

Chicago Tribune
MTV News

Bruce Springsteen "furious" about Ticketmaster practices

Bruce Springsteen has addressed a message to his fans in his official website. Springsteen and his team complain about the scandalous ticket sales last Monday at Ticketmaster.com.

A Letter to Our Fans:

We know there was much confusion regarding Ticketmaster and TicketsNow during last Monday's on-sale dates. We were as confused as you were, as we were given no advance notice of the major changes in the Ticketmaster-TicketsNow world. (Bear in mind that we are not clients of any ticketing company, and that all those arrangements are between venues and ticketing companies.)

Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice.

We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.

We know the many cynical arguments some make in favor of the Ticketmaster system: There are rumors that some artists or managers participate in Ticketmaster charges--we do not. There are rumors that some artists or managers are receiving a percentage of the amount above face value at secondary outlets like TicketsNow--we do not. Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect "scalping" those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow--we do.

While many of you have sent notes to us and your local promoters, you may also send accurate informational letters to Albert Lopez of Ticketmaster [Albert.Lopez@ticketmaster.com] and he will try to address your questions.

A final point for now: the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing. Several newspapers are reporting on this story right now. If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.

The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.

Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team


Today, Ticketmaster has responded with a letter of apology:


An Open Letter of Apology to Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and the Entire Springsteen Tour Team

While we were genuinely trying to do the right thing for fans in providing more choices when the tickets they requested from the primary on-sale were not available, we clearly missed the mark. Fans are confused and angry, which is the opposite of what we hoped to accomplish. We sincerely apologize to Bruce, his organization and, above all, his fans.

We recognize that we need to change our course. We have committed to Bruce and state publicly here that we have taken down all links for Bruce’s shows directing fans from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow. This redirection only occurred as a choice when we could not satisfy fans’ specific search request for primary ticket inventory, but to make sure there is no misunderstanding in the future, we also publicly state that we will never again link to TicketsNow in a manner that can possibly create any confusion during a high-demand on-sale. Specifically, we will not present an option to go to TicketsNow from Ticketmaster without the consent of the artist and the venue, both of whom work together to bring the joy of live entertainment to millions of fans.

If any fans inadvertently purchased tickets in the resale marketplace believing in error they were purchasing from the initial on-sale, we will refund the difference between the actual purchase price and the face price of the ticket. (Please don’t abuse this good faith gesture – we did not give brokers any preferential access to tickets.)

We are committed to helping deliver the most transparent and best live entertainment experience to fans. We will do better going forward.

Sincerely,
Irving Azoff, CEO, Ticketmaster Entertainment


and in the meantime... NJ Attoney General Anne Milgram has issued the following press release:

Attorney General Investigating Ticket Sales for Springsteen Concert

NEWARK - The Office of the Attorney General and the Division of Consumer Affairs are investigating Monday's sale of Bruce Springsteen concerts tickets after consumers complained about problems they encountered during attempted online purchases.

“Consumers are questioning what transpired and if they had an equal opportunity to purchase these concert tickets. We share these concerns and are investigating this matter,” Attorney General Anne Milgram said.

More than 250 consumer complaints have been received as of midday today. The Division of Consumer Affairs has placed an icon labeled “Bruce Springsteen/Ticketmaster Complaints” on its main web page for consumers to link to an online complaint form. The Division's web page is located at http://www.njConsumerAffairs.gov

Consumer Affairs investigators will review submitted complaints to determine how the online sales process was conducted and whether any violations of the state's Consumer Fraud Act or ticket resale law occurred.

To be continued...

more info here:
Ticketmaster Apologizes, Rolling Stone.
Ticketmaster responds to Springsteen, fans. Billboard.
Ticketmaster apologizes over ticket mix-up. Ticket News.

Bruce at the Super Bowl: mistake or success?

Two interesting, but different, views about the Super Bowl performance: don't miss any of them.

There was everything present in a great rock show. But it wasn’t scripted. It unfolded, warts and all, right in front of us. Springsteen faded, his performance just another unmemorable commercial for a product. In this case, a concert ticket as opposed to a snack food, but what’s the difference? Selling is selling.
Lefsetz Letter (read full article) by Bob Lefsetz

Springsteen recognizes that there’s a difference between the performer and audience, but he creates an emotional connection over the course of the night that reaffirms the common humanity of every single person in the building on that night – for the band and the audience. It's that affirmation of a common humanity - its joys, struggles, pain, fun, heartbreak and possibility - that makes a great Springsteen show so transcendent. And it’s what makes him so much wiser than the mistaken and misguided spokesmen for authenticity and cool who criticize him for his soulful, and sometimes corny heat.
A Deeper Shade of Soul (read full article) by Ben Lazar

Bruce at Bonnaroo + Extra show in L.A.

A 2nd show in Los Angeles on April 16th has just been added to the tour's schedule. The tickets will be on sale thru Ticketmaster on Febr.7th.

But the big news is Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will headline the Bonnaroo Festival, held in Manchester, TN. The festival takes place between June 11 and June 13, though no exact date has been given for Bruce's performance.

Tickets for Bonnaroo go on sale Febr.7th at 12am Eastern, here.

Springsteen at the Super Bowl: It's Bossss time!

Along wit The E Street Band and The Miami Horns, Bruce Springsteen offered a high voltage, 12-minute performance at the Super Bowl. It was a long medley that comprised fragments of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Born to Run", "Working on a dream" and "Glory Days". A short performance, but he still found time to jump onto the piano, slip on the floor and almost crush a camera, run back and forward and play his guitar right in front of the fans in front row. A big chorus joined the band for "Working on a dream".

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out/Born to Run:


Working on a Dream/Glory Days: