After ticket slap, Springsteen fan magazine closes
NEW YORK (AP) — A magazine and website that has served Bruce Springsteen fans for 43 years is closing, with its editor writing that he was disappointed by the debate over ticket prices for their current tour. hero.
Backstreets had been an exceptionally robust publication that imposed journalistic rigor on its writing and photography, while leaving no doubt about its fan worship.
But complaints about high ticket prices have left people there “dispirited, discouraged and yes, disillusioned”, editor Christopher Phillips wrote late last week in a post announcing the closure.
“Disappointment is a common feeling among hardcore fans in the Backstreets community,” he wrote. Phillips did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Springsteen manager Jon Landau said “we are truly sorry to hear the news of Backstreets closing and would like to thank Chris Phillips for his 30 years of dedication on behalf of Springsteen fans everywhere.”
There was an outcry among some Springsteen fans when tickets first went on sale last summer, particularly over Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model, which bumped tickets up to $5,000. or more in case of high demand. During a congressional hearing last month following the fiasco over Ticketmaster’s handling of Taylor Swift’s tour tickets, US Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana suggested that major artists like Springsteen and Swift should demand caps on costs.
Springsteen’s team defended the prices as being in line with what many of their peers are asking for today. Like many artists, he says he’s annoyed when unscrupulous ticket brokers — not the musicians — enjoy high markups.
Ticketmaster said the vast majority of fans were able to purchase tickets at face value, which averaged $202. The tour began February 1 in Tampa, Florida.
Many Springsteen fans have been with him for decades, appreciating his working-class New Jersey roots, and remember when a ticket to a high-energy four-hour show on the “Darkness on the Edge of Town” tour in 1978 could be obtained. for $7.50.
This is no longer the reality. Springsteen didn’t back down, telling Rolling Stone magazine that fans unhappy with the award after seeing the show can get their money back.
“You definitely don’t like being the poster boy for high ticket prices,” he told the magazine, but said you have to take your decisions into your own hands and do your best.
Phillips wrote that many Backstreets readers lost interest because they could not afford to go to the show.
He said he hasn’t given up on being a fan of Springsteen’s music, and neither should others.
“We just realized we wouldn’t be able to cover this tour with the drive and sense of purpose with which we have operated continuously since 1980,” he wrote. “With this determination came a rapidly growing sense that we were about to reach the end of an era.”
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