When the Cure’s Robert Smith took on Ticketmaster, saying he was “sickened” with the retail giant, the outcome was anyone’s guess. Well, with the numbers in, it looked like eschewing greed is the way to go. Indeed, the Cure just had its best tour ever, breaking personal records and selling more than half-a-million tickets.
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The Shows of a Lost World Tour, which spanned the United States and Canada, sold upwards of 547,000 total tickets, according to Billboard. Not bad for a band that took on Goliath. The tour was both their highest-grossing and most attended. Ever.
The 35-stop trek garnered the band, famous for songs like “Friday I’m In Love” and “Just Like Heaven,” $37.5 million. The tour concluded earlier this month in Florida. Before their 2023 outing, the band’s best-selling tour was its Wish Tour in 1992, which sold 402,000 tickets. In their 2016 North American tour, the Cure brought in some $18 million.
What stands out the most, of course, is that Smith didn’t raise prices or work with Ticketmaster to increase fees. Instead, he took on the giant and brought prices down. This brought more people in while also bringing more attention to the band’s tour.
After acknowledging his displeasure with the cost of tickets for his tour, Smith met with Ticketmaster people and posted an update on Twitter prior to the tour, saying, “After further conversation, Ticketmaster has 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…”
He added, a “$5 ticket refund” will be sent “to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions, for all Cure shows at all venues.”
The average ticket for the Cure’s show was $68.54, which was 37% lower than other high-profile artists.
The news comes in the wake of skyrocketing costs for tours like Bruce Springsteen’s and Ticketmaster issues when buying tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Perhaps now that Smith has challenged the status quo, more will follow.
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Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
