Springsteen Ticketmaster Snafu

Live Nation’s Phish ticket launch may not have gone smoothly, but Ticketmaster had its share of troubles in New Jersey Feb. 2 when a Bruce Springsteen launch was fumbled.

New Jersey fans grew huffy when trying to purchase tickets for The Boss’ May 21 and May 23 shows at the Izod Center, according to The Record. Instead of a completed transaction, this message reportedly appeared:

“Our ticketing system is currently unavailable due to routine maintenance. Please check at a later time.”

Ticketmaster spokesman Albert Lopez told the Record that “the system didn’t fail” and the error affected “only a very small percentage of our fans.” Lopez said the company’s client services department is tracking down those who got stiffed.

Other customers reportedly got a message saying there weren’t any tickets available but were provided a link to Ticketmaster subsidiary TicketsNow. No problem getting tickets there but at higher prices, the paper said.

Both shows reportedly sold out within an hour.

Phish fans went through the same grief the previous week when trying to buy tickets through Live Nation’s new ticketing system, but apparently on a larger scale. The band posted an apology to its fans for the problems on its Web site.