Bruce Springsteen fans in Philly complain of long wait times amid massive demand

Boss fans just can’t seem to catch a break this tour — not even in Philly.

Tickets for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s March 16 show at the Wells Fargo Center went on sale Tuesday morning, bringing the moment that local fans have been waiting on since he last played Philly in 2016: another chance to see the Boss.

But, judging by social media, many were less-than-enthused with the ticketing process. Unlike in other cities, where ticket prices topped $5,000 in some instances due to Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” system, fans here were mostly fed up with long wait times to get their passes:

Many fans who were waiting in the digital queue reported a status message on the website that called the Springsteen sale the “largest demand for tickets in Philadelphia music history.”

“Thank you for your patience,” the message read. “We are experiencing the largest demand for tickets in Philadelphia music history so the queue is taking longer than expected. A limited number of tickets still remain.”

How that conclusion was reached is not exactly clear. The message that the show resulted in the largest demand in Philly music history came from the band’s promoter, not the arena, a source said.

In a statement, the Wells Fargo Center said: “We had tens of thousands of people log on to purchase tickets” when sales began. Veteran concert promoter Larry Magid, meanwhile, called Tuesday “the most exciting day in Philadelphia music history.”

“After 18,000 shows over 54 years, I’ve never seen ticket demand like this before,” Magid said in a statement. “At one point, we had over 90,000 in queue trying to purchase tickets. There is only one artist that can create this kind of excitement and that’s Bruce Springsteen.”

Others said they waited in the digital queue, a service on the Wells Fargo Center website from the virtual waiting room company Queue-it, but had no luck getting tickets once they reached the front. The service, Queue-it says online, “helps control online traffic peaks.”

And others weren’t exactly happy with the ticket prices.

For fans who missed out on tickets but are still intent on going to the show, the secondary market — sites like StubHub and SeatGeek — is likely the only option. And, according to the ticket search engine TicketIQ, second-hand passes are not only more expensive than face value, they’re up to 216% more expensive than secondary market tickets for previous Springsteen tours.

For example, TicketIQ reports that the current average secondary market ticket price for the Boss’ 2023 tour is $1,317, compared with tickets for Springsteen’s 2016 The River Tour, which ran $417 on average second-hand. The price difference gets worse as you go back, too — 2014′s High Hopes Tour averaged $162 on the secondary market (making this year a 712% increase comparatively), and $290 for 2012′s Wrecking Ball Tour (a comparative 354% increase this year).

Or you might be able to just wait until the fall of 2023 and try all over again. Springsteen and Co. will do a two-month arena show run and then head to Europe for a leg of stadium shows. After that, they’ll return for the second leg of U.S. shows. Those dates haven’t been announced, but locally, shows are likely to take place at Citizens Bank Park, The Inquirer previously reported.