BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) It will be a sold out crowd at KeyBank Center March 23, of next year for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Tickets went on sale Wednesday, and despite the fact that some fans were outraged that Ticketmaster implemented "dynamic pricing", the show sold out in about 10 hours.
The dynamic pricing system is a way for companies to sell tickets to shows that adjusts the price of tickets in real time depending on levels of demand.
"You can divide it into thirds," said Rob Lucas, morning show host at Star 102.5 FM. "30% of people got their tickets and are happy. Another third say they're paying more, but they're going. And there's another third who say after seeing Bruce 30 times, they're not going to pay $900 to $2-thousand dollars to see him."
The upcoming Springsteen show is Buffalo's first experience with dynamic pricing.
Lucas said dynamic pricing did work, in one respect. "More people did have a chance to get tickets. This would have sold out within 30 minutes, however,
with dynamic pricing so many people got in there, and it was a process of jumping through hoops. By the time you got to the check out, your $300 ticket may have increased by $500 in price, and you had ten minutes to decide if you were going to get them."
If you were shutout, or declined to buy tickets because of the price, Lucas said there will be another chance.
"I would watch Ticketmaster and the resale sites for the next several months. When the end of February comes around, start checking the sites on an almost daily basis. Extra seats are always released in the days before a show. You could get a seat right next to the stage, for the same price that someone paid 15 sections away."
Why would an artist agree to this kind of pricing, when it brings so much backlash on social media for them? "That's the balance," answered Lucas. "An artist has to balance the loyalty of his fans, versus bringing in new fans who could never go before."
Bruce Springsteen has always been associated with the working man. Some disgruntled fans took to Twitter Wednesday, saying he should write a song about a working man who had to refinance his car and home to purchase Springsteen tickets.
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What does this say about Buffalo, that Springsteen could come into a blue collar, rust belt city and charge exorbitant prices for a show?
"Buffalo has not been a blue collar, rust belt city for at least half a decade. We're a white collar city. We're much more cosmopolitan. People are moving here from other countries, from New York City and re-discovered a city without traffic problems. And, we're ahead of cities like Detroit," added Lucas.
