Here is one of the fundamental tenets of Bruce Springsteen’s work: Never stop believing in life. A promise his fans have rightly doubted: The Boss will be back at the Bell Center on November 20th.
Posted 12:02pm Updated 3:05pm
If our calculations are correct, the cathartic rock marathoner will be visiting Montreal for the first time in 15 years. On his last visit to the Bell Center on March 2, 2008, Barack Obama was still just the Senator from Illinois and Clarence Clemons, Bruce’s trusty saxophonist, was still swinging his instrument to his friend’s right.
His nephew, Jake Clemons, was tasked with the mission of keeping the iconic Born to Run and Jungleland solos alive following the Big Man’s death in 2011. The young American musician, who lives in the Laurentians with his Quebec wife, will finally have the opportunity to perform on a stage in Montreal accompanied by his venerable boss – our common boss.
PHOTO CHRIS O’MEARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Adopted Quebecers Jake Clemons and Bruce Springteen on February 1 in Tampa
The $5,000 ticket controversy
Springsteen’s spotless reputation was tarnished last July when tickets for the opening leg of this first tour with the E Street Band since 2017 went on sale on a dynamic pricing basis.
The outrageous price of certain seats — up to $5,000, according to the New York Times — clashed, to say the least, with the reputation of the ally of low-income earners the seventy-year-old had always carried around in the back pocket of his faded jeans.
In a rare exercise in transparency, Ticketmaster issued a press release opposing allowing access to its shows to only the deepest pockets. According to the entertainment giant, dynamically priced tickets represented only a minority of the seats available for the singer’s performances. As such, 88.2% of the seats would be for this first leg of his tour at fixed prices ranging from $59.50 to $399 (before service fees ) had been sold, and 1.3% of the tickets would have exceeded $1,000.
Asked about the matter by Rolling Stone magazine last November, the Dancing in the Dark interpreter explained that traditionally he asks his team to take a look at what his peers are asking for prizes, and then set his own slightly lower. “But this time we’re 73 and I wanted to do what everyone else is doing. »
He added in the same breath that the world of ticketing is now as difficult (‘confusing’) for artists to understand as it is for viewers, and vowed that a large proportion of his tickets are “totally affordable”.
Evenko could not specify on Tuesday whether the sale of Montreal tickets will follow a dynamic pricing principle.
How do I get tickets?
In order to get tickets for the November 20 concert in Montreal, it is first necessary to obtain “certified fan” status on Ticketmaster’s website, a simple process which, according to the company, “helps filter out buyers who want to resell tickets and give out more tickets to fans going to the show.”
You must then fill out a form before February 19 at 11:59 p.m. to select three shows to attend from among the twenty American and Canadian dates on the agenda this fall. In addition to Montreal, Bruuuuuuce (as his supporters call him) also passes through Toronto on November 14th and 16th and Ottawa on November 18th.
Fans chosen by this mysterious lottery will receive a code on the evening of February 21st that will allow them access to the ticket sales that will take place over the following days.
Bruce Springsteen’s tour kicked off in Tampa on February 1st, during an evening full of emotion that brought together no fewer than 18 musicians and brought together some of his most striking songs with several others from his albums Letter to You (2020) and Only the Strong Survive ( 2022). His show last Friday in Dallas lasted no less than 2 hours and 50 minutes.