The Cure‘s Robert Smith continues to chat openly with fans about issues surrounding the pre-sale ticket registration for the band’s summer North American tour, which is set to begin May 10 in New Orleans. Last week, Smith announced the Cure was opting out of Ticketmaster’s platinum and dynamic price ticketing options and into the company’s Verified Fan registration program, but that hasn’t stopped some hopeful show-goers from grumbling.
One reason they’re doing so is because numerous secondary ticketing sites are advertising Cure seats at extremely high markups, even though the shows didn’t actually go on sale until today (March 15). As Smith wrote on social media on Monday, “all the ‘secondary ticket market’ sites showing insanely priced Cure tickets are a con. Not one of these scammers has a genuine ticket for sale. Please don’t fall for it. Wait to see how you get on through the official registration channel.”
Smith weighed in through a longer series of posts yesterday, acknowledging the system is imperfect and that the Cure had acted on advice from Ticketmaster about the best ways to reduce rampant scalping. “We had final say in all our ticket pricing for this upcoming tour, and I didn’t want those prices instantly and horribly distorted by resale,” he said. “We didn’t agree to the ‘dynamic pricing’ / ‘price surging’ / ‘platinum ticket’ thing because it is itself a bit of a scam? A separate conversation!”
“We know it is a far from perfect system — but the reality is that if there aren’t enough tickets onsale, a number of fans are going to miss out whatever system we use,” he continued. “At least this one tries to get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price … and/or we should play more/bigger shows? Ha!!! Onwards.”
Smith concluded his posts by relaying that Ticketmaster said it “will continue to sell tickets to those who are verified until there are no more tickets to sell.”
The upcoming tour is named after the Cure’s upcoming album, Songs of the Lost World, which has been in the works for years but does not have a release date. The group has performed several new songs live in recent months, including “And Nothing Is Forever,” “Alone,” and “Endsong.”
WE KNOW IT IS A FAR FROM PERFECT SYSTEM – BUT THE REALITY IS THAT IF THERE AREN’T ENOUGH TICKETS ONSALE, A NUMBER OF FANS ARE GOING TO MISS OUT WHATEVER SYSTEM WE USE; AT LEAST THIS ONE TRIES TO GET TICKETS INTO THE HANDS OF FANS AT A FAIR PRICE…
— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
