Working on a Dream Tour: Difference between revisions
reorder sections, add length and mini-set idea |
add Bruce-Max-Conan issue |
||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
==Itinerary== |
==Itinerary== |
||
The tour was envisioned by the Springsteen camp as not being "a total marathon",<ref name="rs-keepon">{{cite news | url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25329157/the_e_street_band_keep_rolling_in_09 | title=The E Street Band Keep Rolling in '09 | author=[[David Fricke|Fricke, David]] | publisher=''[[Rolling Stone]]'' | date=2009-01-22 | accessdate=2009-02-07}}</ref> and was thus considerably shorter than usual for Springsteen, especially in [[North America]], where only 26 stops were planned.<ref name="tw012809">{{cite news | url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?no=subj&articleid=20090128_269_D1_BruceS880124&allcom=1 | title=Springsteen finally adds Tulsa to his tour | author=Allen, Barbara | publisher=''[[Tulsa World]]'' | date=2009-01-28 | accessdate=2009-02-07}}</ref> It did include a date in [[Oklahoma]], where Springsteen had not played in three decades and where officials at [[Tulsa]]'s [[BOK Center]] had been trying to lure Springsteen for years.<ref name="tw012809"/> |
The tour was envisioned by the Springsteen camp as not being "a total marathon",<ref name="rs-keepon">{{cite news | url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25329157/the_e_street_band_keep_rolling_in_09 | title=The E Street Band Keep Rolling in '09 | author=[[David Fricke|Fricke, David]] | publisher=''[[Rolling Stone]]'' | date=2009-01-22 | accessdate=2009-02-07}}</ref> and was thus considerably shorter than usual for Springsteen, especially in [[North America]], where only 26 stops were planned.<ref name="tw012809">{{cite news | url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?no=subj&articleid=20090128_269_D1_BruceS880124&allcom=1 | title=Springsteen finally adds Tulsa to his tour | author=Allen, Barbara | publisher=''[[Tulsa World]]'' | date=2009-01-28 | accessdate=2009-02-07}}</ref> It did include a date in [[Oklahoma]], where Springsteen had not played in three decades and where officials at [[Tulsa]]'s [[BOK Center]] had been trying to lure Springsteen for years.<ref name="tw012809"/> |
||
One continuing subplot with the tour's scheduling was E Street drummer [[Max Weinberg]]'s availability vis à vis his job as bandleader for [[Conan O'Brien]], given that during the first half of 2009 ''[[Late Night with Conan O'Brien]] in [[New York City|New York]] was ending and ''[[The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien]] in [[Los Angeles]] was beginning.<ref name="bs-max09">{{cite news | url=http://www.backstreets.com/news.html | title=Max Watch '09: A Tale of Two Bosses | publisher=Backstreets.com | date=2009-01-16 | accessdate=2009-02-07}}</ref> O'Brien told a ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' reporter that he hoped that Weinberg would follow him to Los Angeles and that he also hoped an arrangement could be worked out to let Weinberg go on the road with Springsteen as had been done for past tours.<ref name="bs-max09"/> |
|||
==Ticket sales== |
==Ticket sales== |
||
Revision as of 23:06, 7 February 2009
| Concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | |
 | |
| Start date | April 1, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Legs | 2 |
| No. of shows | 48+ |
| Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert chronology | |
The Working on a Dream Tour is a concert tour scheduled by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to begin in early April 2009. It follows the late January 2009 release of the album Working on a Dream.
Itinerary
The tour was envisioned by the Springsteen camp as not being "a total marathon",[1] and was thus considerably shorter than usual for Springsteen, especially in North America, where only 26 stops were planned.[2] It did include a date in Oklahoma, where Springsteen had not played in three decades and where officials at Tulsa's BOK Center had been trying to lure Springsteen for years.[2]
One continuing subplot with the tour's scheduling was E Street drummer Max Weinberg's availability vis à vis his job as bandleader for Conan O'Brien, given that during the first half of 2009 Late Night with Conan O'Brien in New York was ending and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien in Los Angeles was beginning.[3] O'Brien told a Variety reporter that he hoped that Weinberg would follow him to Los Angeles and that he also hoped an arrangement could be worked out to let Weinberg go on the road with Springsteen as had been done for past tours.[3]
Ticket sales
Even before any official tour announcement, tickets went on sale in Norway and Sweden. The heavy demand caused a crash in the Scandinavian ticketing system.[4] A similar situation occurred in Finland with the Lippupiste ticketing system.[5]
On January 27, 2008, the day of the Working on a Dream release in the United States, the official announcement of the tour came.[6][7]
On February 1, 2009, Springsteen & the E Street Band performed at halftime of Super Bowl XLIII. The following day, February 2, 2009, tickets for many of the U.S. shows went on sale. Despite the ongoing global financial crisis of 2008–2009, demand was heavy, both due to Springsteen's continued popularity and the high visibility from the Super Bowl appearance.[8] The two each New Jersey and Philadelphia shows sold out in about an hour.[8][9] East Coast online sales through Ticketmaster, including the New Jersey ones, were especially troublesome, as many customers endured long waits or were in the middle of a purchasing transaction, only to be hit with screens saying the site was down "due to routine maintenance".[8] Ticketmaster acknowledged that the technical problem with the sales "wasn't our finest hour."[10]
Frustration became a public outcry when many of Ticketmaster online customers, upon being informed shows were sold out, were directed to TicketsNow, a Ticketmaster-owned site, where tickets are sold on the secondary market at extremely inflated prices.[8][10][11] Ticketmaster even pushed fans to TicketsNow even when there were still tickets available for a given show.[12] Bill Pascrell, the member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 8th congressional district, asked the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the relationship between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow,[11][13] saying, "I am concerned that the business affiliation between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow may represent a conflict of interest that is detrimental to the average fan. There is a significant potential for abuse when one company is able to monopolize the primary market for a product and also directly manipulate, and profit from, the secondary market."[14]
Springsteen issued a statement on his website where he chastised Ticketmaster and made it clear that he has no affiliation with them (the venues have the affiliation).[15] Springsteen's organization, as well as record companies and promoters, do hold back substantial numbers of tickets from public sales and making supply of them even tighter, especially for New Jersey shows.[8] On the same day that New Jersey State Assemblymen Gary Schaer and Wayne DeAngelo called for an inquiry,[16] New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram also said that her office and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs would investigate the sale of Springsteen concert tickets amidst a number of complaints.[17][11] As the matter gained national attention,[18][19] on February 5, Ticketmaster issued an "open letter of apology" to Springsteen and his fans, saying that it would no longer link to TicketsNow from Ticketmaster during high-demand sales and promising it would refund customers who inadvertently bought secondary market tickets.[20] Pascrell, whose office received over 1,000 complaints on the matter, and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also used the sales tales to indicate concern with the possible merger of Ticketmaster with Live Nation.[11][20] Springsteen also voiced his objection to the merger, and his comments also gained national attention.[21]
The show
One idea under early consideration was to include a mini-set at each stop, containing a full performance of one of Springsteen's classic albums.[1]
Tour dates
| North America | ||||||||||
| Date | City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Ticket grossing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tickets sold | Tickets on sale | Percentage sold | ||||||||
| April 1 | San Jose, CA | United States | HP Pavillion | — | ||||||
| April 3 | Glendale, AZ | United States | Jobing.com Arena | — | ||||||
| April 5 | Austin, TX | United States | Frank Erwin Center | — | ||||||
| April 7 | Tulsa, OK | United States | BOK Center | — | ||||||
| April 8 | Houston, TX | United States | Toyota Center | — | ||||||
| April 10 | Denver, CO | United States | Pepsi Center | — | ||||||
| April 15 | Los Angeles, CA | United States | L.A. Memorial Arena | — | ||||||
| April 16 | Los Angeles, CA | United States | L.A. Memorial Arena | — | ||||||
| April 21 | Boston, MA | United States | TD Banknorth Garden | — | ||||||
| April 22 | Boston, MA | United States | TD Banknorth Garden | — | ||||||
| April 24 | Hartford, CT | United States | XL Center | — | ||||||
| April 26 | Atlanta, GA | United States | Phillips Arena | — | ||||||
| April 28 | Philadelphia, PA | United States | Wachovia Spectrum | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| April 29 | Philadelphia, PA | United States | Wachovia Spectrum | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| May 2 | Greensboro, NC | United States | Greensboro Coliseum | — | ||||||
| May 4 | Uniondale, NY | United States | Nassau Coliseum | — | ||||||
| May 5 | Charlottesville, VA | United States | John Paul Jones Arena | — | ||||||
| May 7 | Toronto, ON | Canada | Air Canada Centre | — | ||||||
| May 8 | University Park, PA | United States | Bryce Jordan Center | — | ||||||
| May 11 | St. Paul, MN | United States | Xcel Energy Center | — | ||||||
| May 12 | Chicago, IL | United States | United Center | — | ||||||
| May 13 | Chicago, IL | United States | United Center | — | ||||||
| May 14 | Albany, NY | United States | Times Union Center | — | ||||||
| May 15 | Hershey, PA | United States | Hersheypark Stadium | — | ||||||
| May 18 | Washington, DC | United States | Verizon Center | — | ||||||
| May 19 | Pittsburgh, PA | United States | Mellon Arena | — | ||||||
| May 21 | East Rutherford, NJ | United States | Izod Center | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| May 23 | East Rutherford, NJ | United States | Izod Center | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| May 30 | Landgraaf | Netherlands | Pinkpop Festival | — | ||||||
| June 2 | Tampere | Finland | Ratinan Stadion | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| June 4 | Stockholm | Sweden | Stockholms Stadium | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| June 5 | Stockholm | Sweden | Stockholms Stadium | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| June 7 | Stockholm | Sweden | Stockholms Stadium | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| June 9 | Bergen | Norway | Koengen | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| June 10 | Bergen | Norway | Koengen | — | — | 100% | — | |||
| June 11-14 | Manchester, TN | United States | Bonnaroo Festival | — | ||||||
| July 2 | Munich | Germany | Olympiastadion | — | ||||||
| July 3 | Frankfurt | Germany | Commerzbank Arena | — | ||||||
| July 5 | Vienna | Austria | Ernst Happel Stadion | — | ||||||
| July 8 | Herning | Denmark | Herning MCH | — | ||||||
| July 11 | Dublin | Ireland | RDS Arena | 38000 | 38000 | 100% | — | |||
| July 12 | Dublin | Ireland | RDS Arena | 38000 | 38000 | 100% | — | |||
| July 16 | Carhaix | France | Festival des Vieilles Charrues | — | ||||||
| July 19 | Rome | Italy | Stadio Olimpico | — | ||||||
| July 21 | Torino | Italy | Stadio Olimpico di Torino | — | ||||||
| July 23 | Udine | Italy | Stadio Friuli | — | ||||||
| July 26 | Bilbao | Spain | San Mames Stadium | — | ||||||
| July 28 | Benidorm | Spain | Estadio Municipal de Foietes | — | ||||||
| July 30 | Sevilla | Spain | La Cartuja Olympic Stadium | — | ||||||
| Aug 1 | Valladolid | Spain | Estadio Jose Zorrilla | — | ||||||
| Aug 2 | Compostela | Spain | Monte Do Gozo | — | ||||||
References
- ^ a b Fricke, David (2009-01-22). "The E Street Band Keep Rolling in '09". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Allen, Barbara (2009-01-28). "Springsteen finally adds Tulsa to his tour". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Max Watch '09: A Tale of Two Bosses". Backstreets.com. 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band To Launch Tour; New Album Out Today". Starpulse. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "Rush for Springsteen ticket sales causes online system to crash". Helsingin Sanomat. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band To Launch 2009 US And European Tour" (Press release). Shore Fire Media. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ Satariano, Adam (2009-01-27). "Springsteen Will Start U.S. Tour April 1, Europe on May 30". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ a b c d e McGlone, Peggy (2009-02-02). "Ticket buying process frustrates Springsteen fans". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Luce, Paul (2009-02-03). "Springsteen tickets remain a hot item for Spectrum show". Delaware County Times. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Greene, Andy (2009-02-03). "Ticketmaster Admits Springsteen Sale 'Wasn't Our Finest Hour'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c d Satariano, Adam and Bensinger, Greg (2009-02-05). "Springsteen, Fans Decry Ticketmaster's 'Scalping'". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Failing the Smell Test: Ticket Woes Worsen". Backstreets.com. 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "Springsteen ticket glitch has pol calling for federal probe". Newsday. Associated Press. 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Pascrell, Bill (2009-02-03). "Pascrell Seeks Investigation Into Ticketmaster Business Practice" (Press release). U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "A Letter to Our Fans". Brucespringsteen.net. 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ "Shaer, DeAngelo to Ask AG to Determine Whether Jilted Springsteen Fans Have an Ally in State Law" (PDF) (Press release). New Jersey State Assembly. 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "Attorney General Investigating Ticket Sales for Springsteen Concert" (Press release). New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ Duke, Alan (2009-02-05). "Ticketmaster-Live Nation talks raise concerns". CNN. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ Jenison, David (2009-02-04). "Bruce Springsteen Shows Taylor Swift, Ticketmaster Who's Boss". E! Online. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ a b McGlone, Peggy (2009-02-06). "Ticket firm apologizes to Bruce and fans". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Colker, David, Tiffany Hsu and Randy Lewis (2009-02-05). "Possible Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger draws boos from concert fans". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
