Bruce Springsteen's Broadway Residency Causes Ticket Sales Fiasco

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Bruce Springsteen fans were in for a rude surprise while trying to purchase concert tickets for the rock icon's "intimate" Broadway residency.

Despite signing up for Ticketmaster's "verified fan" program — which aims to cut down the number of people buying tickets solely to resell them at higher prices — many aspiring concertgoers were locked out of ticket sales Wednesday. To make matters worse, tickets started popping up on resale websites such as Stubhub for thousands of dollars shortly after sales went live.

The complaints came rolling in on social media:

"Was applauding efforts to stop scalping even though I only got standby...but now tkts are on stubhub for $9900 each? Major Fail," one fan said on Twitter.

"Glad to see the #VerifiedFan presale is going as planned @Ticketmaster. now I can come see the @springsteen show for for 10k," another fan said on Twitter.

Ticketmaster eventually caught wind of the situation and released a new slew of verified fan codes around 11 a.m., the online ticket seller announced. The company also released a statement saying that tickets appearing on resale sites may be scams.

"Ticketmaster is the exclusive ticketing source of Springsteen on Broadway. Many unofficial sellers will list tickets even before they go on sale. This practice is called "speculative listing" and fans shuld not trust resellers claiming to have tickets before the onsale has even begun," Ticketmaster said in a statement.

Eventally "The Boss" saved the situation with some good news. Bruce Springsteen announced Wednesday that he would extend his Broadway residency 10 weeks. Springsteen will now be playing his solo show at the Walter Kerr Theatre five times a week from Oct. 12 through Feb. 3.

Tickets will go on sale again on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m., according to Springsteen's website. The ticket sales will once again be sold through Ticketmaster's verified fan system.

Photo by Richard Drew/Associated Press