He sold out three shows in Dublin in 20 minutes.

"the Emirates".
Still sounds really stupid doesn't it?
Whereas, weirdly, "the O2" is beginning to trip off the tongue quite naturally.

According to aloud.com they are on sale on Friday 7 December at 9am ??? Everywhere else says the 5th. Which is right ?

I last saw him at Earl's Court in, I think, 1999. While drinking overpriced factory fizz from a plastic pot in the basement of a multi-storey car park, and being elbowed politely by ageing men in "Bruce Springsteen European Tour '85" t-shirts, I thought, for the first time at a show involving someone I really liked and had been looking forward to seeing again, maybe I should have stayed at home. Seats in the back row (oh, yes, heads in the roof and backs to the rear wall), then it took 3 hours to travel the 12 miles home.
Seeing him previously, I always felt that Springsteen was unrivalled in holding a crowd and making the stadium show work as something that really involved the audience, but on that occasion the whole thing was, for me, a bit too much of a love-in. Perhaps I missed the point. Maybe I should have stayed at home.
The point is, do I want to spend maybe a hundred notes on two tickets, take a loan out for a disgusting lager and some rotten food, queue like a fleeing refugee from the east in 1945, possibly miss the last train, and be too tired and pissed off in the morning to remember it with any affection?

Can we call it by its other name instead of bowing down to sponsorship? It's Ashburton Grove to me.

Well I've already put down a £100 notes for tickets to the O2 so I think I'll pass on the outdoor experience.

No, I've never left early to beat the rush, although with hindsight there are times I wish I had. I did once exit the Festival Hall pretty sharpish during Ray Gelato and The Giants support-slot, but only to the bar until Ray Charles came on.

I'm afraid the 'ageing' bit got missed in the sloppy Rioja-based edit.

It probably is age, but the idea of trooping off to a football ground (never the ideal venue for music) with 50,000 others just won't do it for me anymore.

I managed to buy tickets for the Emirates (yes, Richard Lowe, it sounds super weird, but at 8.30 this morning, through ticketzone - ie, half an hour before they were due to open. Now I'm worried it was a non-transaction in cyber-limbo. Anyone else manage to get in early?

but can't afford it. I saw him in 1996, at the Albert Hall - very special - and Earl's Court in 1999: which, as Philip says, was a bit unremarkable. Then in 2003, which may be the best gig I've ever been to. Pure, unadulterated joy. I've a feeling this tour might be pretty special, based on the album (best since Tunnel Of Love?) but c'est la vie.

With the benefit of having seen this tour in USA already it is very much worth it and I duly stumped up the £120 nicker this am to take the missus and myself to Old Trafford - being a Birmingham fan it will hopefully be one time when I come away from there with something tangible but thats another story.The truth is the set is much tighter than previous times I have seen him and with Radio Nowhere I think he has one of the great alltime set openers.He usually springs a couple of surprises so will be met with great anticipation.
If I were to change anything I would give Nils Lofgren more solos and I would drop American Land - as good as this song is it is a Seeger Sessions song that doesnt fit with the rest of the set.