Orel Family

May 15, 2005, a nice spring Sunday afternoon. I was helping to lead my son's Cub Scout troop on a hike on a local trail network. My cell phone buzzed. "Matt, this is Bobby, I have front row on my screen. Do you want them?" YES!!! 5 hours later we were at Wolstein Center in Cleveland, in the front row, for Springsteen's performance there that night. I've never met Bobby in person. He lives a couple thousand miles away. But he was part of my community. He also had my Ticketmaster account, and when that ticket was spotted, he was me and I was on my way. After the hike was over, anyway. Other times, I bought prime tickets for friends to use, to shows I wasn't going to myself. Bruce Springsteen has never had a formal fan club or ticketing service. No Grateful Dead Ticket Service, no Ten Club, nothing like that. So, various circles of fans grouped amongst themselves. This extended from sharing "backdoor" phone numbers before internet sales became the thing...

Tickets went on sale this morning for several Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band shows for their next USA tour, starting next February. By the time of the first scheduled show at Tampa Bay's Amalie Arena on February 1st, it will have been more than 6 full years since his last US shows in September 2016. Since then, he's released an autobiography, gone on a book tour, made a western album, produced a film that was exhibited at a major film festival, played a few charity gigs, made an album with the E Street Band, sold his catalogue to the record company for a half billion dollars, had one planned E Street Band tour scuttled at the last minute due to COVID concerns, and had two stints of his one man show, "Springsteen on Broadway." Profitably busy, one might say, and now it's time to hit the road. Prices for "platinum" tickets in Tampa. Yes, those are real. Springsteen's ticketing policy has varied over the years: In 1999, for example, virtually e...