Bruce Springsteen - Springsteen 'Furious' With Ticket Distributor

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN has slammed an online ticket agent - after a blunder led to fans paying over the odds to see his shows. Passes for the rocker's forthcoming Working on a Dream jaunt went on sale on Ticketmaster.com on Monday (02Feb09), but fans received an error message when they tried to purchase seats.

They were then redirected to a subsidiary, TicketsNow.com - which offered the same seats at a higher price.

Now Springsteen and his manager, Jon Landau, have blasted the agents, insisting they are "furious" with the way fans have been treated.

A post on the rocker's official website says, "We condemn this practice. We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them.

"We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow (to) cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.

"The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practises are permanently curtailed on our tours."

On Wednesday (04Feb09), U.S. congressman Bill Pascrell demanded an investigation into possible conflicts of interest between the two websites.

Springsteen's tour kicks off on 1 April (09) in San Jose, California.