Phish fans were angered last fall when tickets for the band’s upcoming reunion concerts at Hampton Coliseum were sold out in seconds from Ticketmaster, only to pop up minutes later on TicketsNow, a pseudo-scalper site that is owned by Ticketmaster. The incident flew under the radar with no apologies or explanations given.
A couple months later, the same thing happened to Bruce Springsteen fans and it was a much different story. The Boss’s fans got an apology from Bruce himself, Ticketmast
er, and a possible federal investigation. “The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you,” Springsteen wrote on his website immediately following the uproar.
Would Ticketmaster listen to the headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show? “We sincerely apologize to Bruce, his organization and, above all, his fans,” wrote Ticketmaster head Irving Azoff. “…Fans are confused and angry, which is the opposite of what we hoped to accomplish.”
If Springsteen fans still weren’t appeased, Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Bill Pascrell called on the FTC and U.S. Justice Department to investigate Ticketmaster. Springsteen fans are clearly an influential bunch.