Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - For the first time in seven years, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is back in Downtown Buffalo to perform for fans crowded into the confines of KeyBank Center.
It will be a sellout crowd on-hand for Thursday night's show, as tickets for the show went off the market in about 10 hours when they first went on sale back in late July. However, some additional tickets have recently gone on sale for the show, while others are looking to re-sell their tickets on the secondary market.
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"We've seen prices settled down a lot since the on sale. You can get some pretty good deals on the website now for Bruce. Probably about $250 or so for a really decent seat, whether it's in the club level or in the lower level near the stage," said Nick Giammusso, owner of the Buffalo-based secondary ticket center VIPTIX.com.
When tickets first went on sale for the Springsteen concert in Buffalo, many fans experienced some sticker shock with the pricing as a result of Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing system. 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.
Giammusso says in the last hours and days leading up to Thursday's show, those who either purchased their tickets early to secure the seats they wanted or are able to buy the tickets at the last minute are very happy. However, those who bought tickets and are trying to re-sell them on the secondary market are not so pleased with the return.
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While the Springsteen concert in Buffalo saw ticket prices jump to higher levels than in years past, other acts like Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and many others are also seeing sky-high prices at the box office and at Ticketmaster due to dynamic pricing. The bad news for many concertgoers and fans of these artists is these high concert prices for tickets are likely to stay for the long haul.
"As long as people keep buying tickets, I don't know how high they could possibly go. With the Taylor Swift show, we've seen tickets in the thousands of dollars. Our clients are just in awe at the ticket prices. We've talked to people all day long looking for Morgan Wallen, looking for Taylor Swift. Those two shows, in particular, have astronomical prices at the box office, and it seems like dynamic pricing is here to stay," Giammusso said. "They start out really, really high, and prices come down if they don't sell them. If the demand is super high, then the prices go even higher than the first day of the on sale. It's maddening for some of the fans that are buying concert tickets these days, but unfortunately, it seems like it's here to stay, and so people stopped buying tickets."
Rob Lucas from our sister station STAR 102.5 FM feels that until artists start performing to half-empty arenas across the nation, the way ticket pricing is done will not change.
"It's just Bruce, there's very few empty seats. Taylor Swift, it wasn't quite the dynamic pricing thing - other issues there - 70,000 seats sold over the weekend for each show in Arizona," said Lucas during a recent appearance on "BMaz and Beamer" on WBEN.
Lucas also points out how artists are touring differently since returning from the COVID-19 pandemic. He says it's been a long while since multiple major artists are all doing arena and stadium shows at the same time and selling out.
"Taylor Swift is playing Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, four days off. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, four days off. Ed Sheeran is doing the same thing: Saturday and Sunday or Friday, Saturday, taking four days off. The money comes in so quickly now where artists don't have to beat and batter their bodies," Lucas said. "Bruce is one of the few who loves being on stage every second or third night. But the days, I think, of artists doing five shows in seven days, once they get to a certain point and they can pull it off with a shorter schedule, those days may be over."
At first, higher ticket pricing may have been looked at more as certain artists trying to rebound from being away for several months of performing due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Giammusso says until further notice, this is just the way things are working out to be.
"We've seen it rollout in other cities, and since KeyBank Center, the Bills and Sabres decided to go with Ticketmaster, we've just actually seen prices higher," he said. "The dynamic pricing model at the box office really puts a squeeze on fans when it comes to their entertainment budget, and seeing their favorite artists. It's probably here to stay, and it's really unfortunate, because people would like to see a normal priced ticket. What's normal? $100-$150 ticket is somewhat normal and is what we're kind of used to. But thousands of dollars to see a favorite artist, it seems like it's a little bit more than most people can chew right now."
Not only has ticket pricing taken its hold on the major acts across the nation, it has also seen a drastic rise at a number of local venues, as well as with smaller bands that have not charged much for concert tickets in the past.
"The cost of everything these days has gone up, so you're paying more for production, you're paying more for security, you're paying more for everything," Giammusso explained. "A lot of these smaller venues have to keep up in order to stay alive. We live in a capitalist economy, and hopefully things will settle down a little bit more."
Another interesting point Giammusso points out is Buffalo doesn't seem to be getting certain shows that other cities are in 2023. He believes a lot of that has to do with the pandemic.
"As we're coming out of the pandemic, as we've been coming out of the pandemic, it seems like the major artists are going to the big cities - Toronto, New York, Chicago, [Los Angeles]. Those big cities are seeing a lot of the stadium tours, and they're bypassing Buffalo," Giammusso said. "I think that will correct itself as we come out of the pandemic a little bit longer into 2024. I think we'll start seeing shows next year that we haven't seen in 2023, and I think it's just because the artists, they've been off of work for a few years and they're hitting the big cities first. Buffalo is definitely a secondary city, when it comes to entertainment."
So what advice does Giammusso have for anyone not only looking to get their last-minute Springsteen tickets, but also anyone looking at the ticket market for shows in the future?
"Take a look at the prices, what they are on the on sale. Most of the times today, it's probably not a good idea to purchase right away, unless you're happy with an upper-level seat or not a quality seat," he suggested. "Usually the quality seats start off really, really high at the box office with dynamic pricing. You're better off these days to be patient and let the market settle down.
"You've seen shows at the arena now, at KeyBank Center - Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Brooks and Dunn - all those prices have come down probably 30%-40% at the box office since the day they went on sale. That's because fans just aren't buying the seats, and Ticketmaster is forced to lower prices. We're seeing a lot better prices not only at the box office, but you can find them on VIPTIX.com also. Prices are just a lot better than they were when they went on sale."