The Cure will be touring North America this Summer 2023! But what exactly went down over the last few weeks? Let’s take a look:
To start off, Robert Smith has been teasing a new album for over a year now.
On March 6th, The Cure tweeted at his followers to sign up for The Cure mailing list “ASAP – BE THE FIRST TO GET NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS…”
On March 9th, The Cure announced a 30 date tour (possibly supporting a new album) across the US and Canada starting in New Orleans and ending in Miami. Fans would have to sign up through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan in order to receive a link to secure tickets. This system of registering for tickets was to thwart resellers, or as Robbie calls them “SCALPERS.”
On March 10th, Verified Fan ticket registration became available. The general public could sign up to receive a Verified Fan status through March 13th and prioritize which dates they wanted to attend. The Cure also announced that they wanted “THE TOUR TO BE AFFORDABLE FOR ALL FANS.” They also mentioned, however, that tickets would NOT be eligible to be transferred unless they use Ticketmaster’s Face Value Ticket Exchange portal.
On the morning of March 15th, tickets went on sale! Verified Fans were given the first grabs on seating. Verified Fans were met with long queue lines as well as being booted from the line and having other server issues that prevented them from securing their tickets right away. Verified Fans waited to secure their tickets for hours and waitlisted Verified Fans were hopeless that they would not be seeing The Cure this summer.
After all Verified Fans secured their tickets, everyone else who registered (those waitlisted) were texted a link that afternoon and were sent a code to purchase any remaining tickets.
Overall, ticket prices were affordable as promised with some tickets as low as $20!
Robbie tweeted: “I HAD A SEPARATE CONVERSATION ABOUT ‘PLATINUM’, TO SEE IF I HAD MISUNDERSTOOD SOMETHING… BUT I HADN’T! IT IS A GREEDY SCAM – AND ALL ARTISTS HAVE THE CHOICE NOT TO PARTICIPATE… IF NO ARTISTS PARTICIPATED, IT WOULD CEASE TO EXIST X” This was in response to The Cure’s commitment not to price-surge their ticket costs. Robbie believes that individual ticket prices don’t have to be in the hundreds, or even thousands of dollars price range. Our favorite artists have the option whether they want to participate in this greedy practice or not.
The major problem ticket holders experienced was that Ticketmaster was charging 2 separate fees that came out to $20 for each ticket purchased.
Robbie responded on Twitter: “I AM SICKENED AS YOU ALL ARE BY TODAY’S TICKETMASTER ‘FEES’ DEBACLE. TO BE VERY CLEAR: THE ARTIST HAS NO WAY TO LIMIT THEM. I HAVE BEEN ASKING HOW THEY ARE JUSTIFIED. IF I GET ANYTHING COHERENT BY THE WAY OF AN ANSWER I WILL LET YOU ALL KNOW. X”
The following day, Robbie, in a series of tweets, tweeted: “AFTER FURTHER CONVERSATION, TICKETMASTER HAVE AGREED WITH US THAT MANY OF THE FEES BEING CHARGED ARE UNDULY HIGH, AND AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL HAVE OFFERED A $10 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR LOWEST TICKET PRICE (‘LTP”) TRANSACTIONS AND A $5 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR ALL OTHER TICKET PRICE TRANSACTIONS, FOR ALL CURE SHOWS AT ALL VENUES; IF YOU ALREADY BOUGHT A TICKET YOU WILL GET AN AUTOMATIC REFUND; ALL TICKES ON SALE TOMORROW WILL INCUR LOWER FEES”
On March 17th, Robbie tweeted that tickets would be available for purchase to the public without Verified Fan status. A number of tickets were held back at each venue (except for tickets in LA and Detroit due to a possible miscommunication) for those in this situation.
On that morning, 900 tickets were purchased above face value due to a premature activation for ticket exchange without the Cure’s face value restrictions.
On March 18, Robbie tweeted: “WE PROBABLY NEED TO PLAY MORE SHOWS! X”
On March 21st, Ticketmaster emailed all ticket recipients that they will be receiving a partial refund and that “this is all thanks to Robert Smith.” Buyers were contacted and would be refunded to their face value ticket prices.
Later that day, Robbie tweeted that 1 extra show was confirmed and that they were waiting on 2 other extra shows.
On March 24th, Fans were able to release their tickets into the Face Value Ticket Exchange. This means that fans can release their ticket and someone else could pick them up at face value.
However, fans are not able to transfer their tickets directly to specific individuals. If you want to find a ticket, you need to check the website every now and then and hope to find tickets.
Unfortunately, tickets to shows in NYC, Chicago, and Denver are subject to price-surging because of laws in these states protecting the business of reselling tickets. These people are still able to use the Face Value Exchange system.
To summarize: Robbert Smith tried his best to keep tickets affordable and to keep “SCALPERS” from reselling tickets for a crazy amount. No system is perfect and ultimately it was a lottery system that determined where you would be seated. Ticketmaster needs to be broken up from their monopoly and insane fees. People can still find tickets through the Face Value Ticket Exchange. And more shows to come!
I got my tickets so this would be the second time I see The Cure. The last time I saw them was at their Pasadena Daydream festival in 2019 w/ Deftones, Pixies, Mogwai, and The Twilight Sad, who will be opening for The Cure throughout the SOALW23 tour! You should check them out if you haven’t already!
There are a number of online petitions that call for investigating and breaking up Ticketmaster. I encourage you to also message your favorite artists to be as proactive as they can to ensure affordable ticket prices.
Tunes & Oats 