Both Bruce Springsteen concerts in Croke Park sell out

Tickets are already being resold online for up to €1,286 each

Bruce Springsteen with the the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden in New York on January 27th, 2016. Photograph: Nicole Fara Silver/The New York Times
Bruce Springsteen with the the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden in New York on January 27th, 2016. Photograph: Nicole Fara Silver/The New York Times

Both of Bruce Springsteen’s summer concerts in Croke Park have sold out in under two hours on Thursday.

Fans frantically scrambled to buy tickets Thursday morning as promoters Aiken confirmed the singer, also known as The Boss, will play Friday, May 27th and Sunday, May 29th.

More than 160,000 people will attend the gigs as part of Springsteen’s The River Tour 2016.

Tickets went on sale from Ticketmaster at 9am and the second date was confirmed about 30 minutes later.

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The first concert sold out within 30 minutes and the second about two hours later.

Prices started at €65.45 for seats, €98.50 for standing places and up to €131 for other areas, in addition to a service charge.

Minutes after it was confirmed by the promoters the concerts were sold out, Seatwave, a Ticketmaster company, had tickets for sale ranging in price from €135 - €1286.

Ticket prices on this site are set by the seller.

Springsteen’s promoters, Aiken, have warned against fans buying tickets from any website or secondary seller as they might not be genuine.

Long established as one of the world’s bestselling rock stars in terms of both albums and concert tickets, he last performed in Dublin in 2012.

There were rumours a year ago he would play at Croke Park last summer, but they proved unfounded.

Springsteen has been one of the biggest rock concert draws in Ireland since he first performed here in a memorable concert at Slane Castle on June 1st, 1985.

About 100,000 people attended on one of the hottest days of the year as he kicked off the European leg of his Born in the USA tour.

The announcement of Springsteen's visit to Dublin has revived memories of the saga in 2014 involving American country singer Garth Brooks.

Tickets were sold out for five shows at Croke Park, but they were all cancelled when Dublin City Council granted permission for only three.

Beyonce has also confirmed she will perform at Croke Park on July 9th this year.

The singer announced her Formation world tour during her performance at the Super Bowl in California.

The stadium, which has a capacity of 82,300, has permission to hold three concerts each year.

For any additional concerts, a licence application has to be submitted to the city council under the Planning and Development Act.

Springsteen’ s two concerts in May and Beyonce’s gig in July means a licence application will need to be submitted for any additional concerts this year.

Before arriving in Dublin, Springsteen will play in Lisbon in Portugal with tickets for sale starting at €69.

The singer will then go the Hague, in Netherlands, where standing ticket prices start at €79.

Rachel Flaherty

Rachel Flaherty

Rachel Flaherty is Digital Features Editor and journalist with The Irish Times