Bruce Springsteen fans are reeling on Twitter over a competitive process to get tickets to “Springsteen on Broadway” Wednesday morning.
Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, but purchasing tickets wasn’t as easy as hopping on Ticketmaster and picking out seats. Ticketmaster is utilizing a new “Verified Fan” two-step process to buy tickets, with the hope that bots and scalpers won’t be able to purchase tickets and resell for outrageous prices.
The process requires fans to register weeks ahead of time, and then a randomly selected group receives a code via text just hours before the sale begins. Tuesday night, several who had registered were put on “standby,” which meant that their code wouldn’t be sent until after tickets went on sale (and thus reducing chances of getting tickets even more).
The complicated process doesn’t seem to have deterred buyers with intentions to resell; tickets are already available on StubHub for north of $6,000.
Well done @Ticketmaster you managed to delay @stubhub by all of 3 minutes pic.twitter.com/dpDsQLHlLz
— Valmy Auto Court (@ValmyAuto) August 30, 2017
Interesting pricing at 10:10 a.m. for Bruce on Bway. Those verified fans sure think alike. pic.twitter.com/FvshoN1wVg
— Ben Sisario (@sisario) August 30, 2017
#SpringsteenBroadway status: Hahahahaaakdlhdjkfghdfk pic.twitter.com/3aZpTPuYgq
— Maeve McDermott (@maeve_mcdermott) August 30, 2017
Tickets will be hard to come by because of the show’s limited run, with preview shows from October 3, and then five shows a week between October 12 and Thanksgiving. Plus, it’s playing at the Walter Kerr Theater, which only seats 960.
Fans are not happy with the process of purchasing tickets, and many who missed out have taken to Twitter with hilarious reactions. Take a look below.
Nice job fighting those scalpers with @Ticketmaster #verifiedfan! Clearly this system doesn't work, now does it? #SpringsteenOnBroadway pic.twitter.com/gvck6xSNTD
— Eric Black (@big_daddy_black) August 30, 2017
Standing by…
Hello….hello…??
Bruce??
Anyone?#SpringsteenOnBroadway pic.twitter.com/lyIZoFGAhz— Acoustic USA (@acousticUSA) August 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/jenyfromdablokk/status/902896352811732994
https://twitter.com/Em_Thresh/status/902844722703728640
Tramps like us, baby we can't afford $700 tickets #SpringsteenOnBroadway
— samantha (@samanthalee__) August 30, 2017
This is how you find out you didn't make the cut. #SpringsteenOnBroadway pic.twitter.com/EfCMIhD48f
— Sherry I'm Not a Cat Ross?? (@SherryDarlingNJ) August 30, 2017
2 friends who've never seen #Springsteen have #VerifiedFan standby access, while 2 huge fans have 0. Cool algorithm. #SpringsteenOnBroadway
— Kevin Hall (@skhall) August 30, 2017
We're counting down until #SpringsteenOnBroadway tickets are available at 10 a.m. Did anyone get a code?! https://t.co/fvKnUHWOgN pic.twitter.com/l1JakCB6Bq
— njdotcom (@njdotcom) August 30, 2017
When you're waiting on the standby list for #SpringsteenOnBroadway tickets. pic.twitter.com/iPkvUsP5Kf
— Leslie Scott (@Leslie_PScott) August 30, 2017
Live pictures of me receiving 'Standby' email. #SpringsteenOnBroadway pic.twitter.com/DDdJSsWVvy
— Graham Dumble (@grahamdumble) August 30, 2017