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Sam Smith‘s shows in Glasgow and Birmingham have been pushed back due to illness. The singer announced to fans on Monday (April 24) that the Birmingham show — which was originally slated for tonight (April 25) at Birmingham Resort World Arena — will be bumped to May 27; tickets for the original date will be honored at the rescheduled one.
Smith wrote to their fans about the postponements in a statement shared by Resorts World Arena in which they said, “I am so sorry to let you know that my team and I are still really not well, so unfortunately we need to reschedule our Birmingham show to the 27th May 2023.”
The statement continued, “It’s so important to me that we give you the very best version of Gloria. I don’t want you to experience it at anything less. Thank you so much for understanding, I know how excited everyone is to see the show, and I feel the same about seeing all of you.”
On Friday (April 21), Glasgow’s OVO Hydro announced the rescheduling of Smith’s planned Saturday night show at the arena, also due to an unspecified illness; that show will now take place on May 25. In a Facebook post last week Smith revealed that the Glasgow show was off after they and “a lot of my team have been hit with a virus that’s made us really unwell.” Smith has not specified what illness befell the team.
The most recent gig on Smith’s Gloria tour was in London on April 19 at The O2, where the singer took time out to pay tribute to Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old transgender girl who was stabbed to death earlier this year in Warrington, England. Smith wore a halo-shaped headband emblazoned with Ghey’s name during the tribute. Smith’s next scheduled show is slated for Saturday (April 29) at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
See the statement about the Birmingham show below.
Drake announced a dozen new dates for his upcoming It’s All a Blur tour with 21 Savage on Monday morning (April 24). The Live Nation-produced outing has added fourth shows in Inglewood and Brooklyn and second gigs in Glendale and Nashville.
The rapper also announced new dates in Columbus, Memphis, Denver, Austin and Charlotte, as well as announcing a new pair of back-to-back shows in his hometown of Toronto to close out the now 54-date tour at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 5 and 7.
In the meantime, some dates have also shifted around. The New Orleans, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta dates — which were originally slated to take place between June 16 and July 2 will be rescheduled to take place between Sept. 14 and Oct. 2.
The All a Blur tour is Drake’s first headline run since the 2018 Aubrey & the Three Migos tour. Tickets for the new dates will go on sale beginning with Cash App Card and Sprite presales beginning Wednesday (April 26) at 12 p.m. local time through 10 p.m. local time on Thursday (April 27) for Cash App and Thursday at 10 a.m. local time for the Sprite presale, which runs through 10 p.m. that day; click here for more presale information. Tickets for rescheduled dates will not be included in either presale or the general onsale.
See the full list of Drake It’s All a Blur 2023 tour dates below:
June 29 – Memphis, TN @ FedExForum
July 1 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
July 5 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
July 6 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
July 8 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
July 9 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
July 11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
July 12 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
July 14 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre *
July 15 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre *
July 17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
July 18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
July 20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
July 21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
July 23 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 25 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 26 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
July 28 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
July 29 – Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
July 31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
August 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
August 3 – Milwaukee, WI @ Fiserv Forum
August 12 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
August 13 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
August 15 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
August 16 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum
August 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
August 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
August 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
August 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
August 25 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
August 26 – Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
August 28 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
August 29 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
Sept. 1 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
Sept. 2 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
Sept. 5 – Glendale, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena
Sept. 6 – Glendale, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena
Sept. 8 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
Sept. 11 – Austin, TX @ Moody Center
Sept. 14 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center +
Sept. 15 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center +
Sept. 17 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center +
Sept. 18 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center +
Sept. 20 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center +
Sept. 22 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
Sept. 25 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena +
Sept. 26 – Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena +
Sept. 28 – Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center +
Sept. 29 – Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center +
Oct. 1 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
Oct. 2 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena +
Oct. 5 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena *
Oct. 7 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena *
* 21 Savage not on this date.
+ Rescheduled dates.
New dates are bolded.
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Erykah Badu and Yasiin Bey are quintessential figures when it comes to the intersecting cultures of Hip-Hop and high art. The creative Dallas artist and the talented Brooklyn MC are joining forces for the Unfollow Me tour with 25 stops across the United States.
Credit: Tony Krash
Erykah Badu and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) will kick off the tour in San Antonio, Texas and will end the 25-city tour back in Dallas. While they’ve carved out their careers in somewhat differing lanes of expression, the pair have worked together in the past on Mark Ronson’s Re:Generation documentary released in 2013.
Credit: Yasiin Bey
The tour was announced under Badu’s BaduWorld, Inc. entity, and will be produced by Outback Presents with the aim of bringing forth the artful and futuristic vision of Badu. While Badu last released music in 2015 with the But You Caint Use My Phone mixtape.
Bey has been active in recent years, reuniting with his Black Star partner Talib Kweli for the group’s No Fear Of Time album in 2022 which was fully produced by Madlib. Madlib also recently shared that he’s working on new music for Erkyah Badu.
Tickets for the Unfollow Me tour launch on April 20th at 2:222 local time. Learn more about the tour and purchase tickets by following this link.
The dates are listed below.
June
11 – AT&T Center – San Antonio, TX
13 – Desert Diamond Arena – Glendale, AZ
20 – Golden 1 Center – Sacramento, CA
21 – Oakland Arena – Oakland, CA
23 – WaMu Theater – Seattle, WA
26 – Ball Arena – Denver, CO
28 – Enterprise Center – St. Louis, MO
30 – Xcel Center – St. Paul, MN
July
1 – United Center – Chicago, IL
2 – Little Caesar’s Arena – Detroit, MI
7 – TD Arena – Boston, MA
8 – Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
9 – TD Pavillion at the Mann – Philadelphia, PA
11 – Prudential Center – Newark, NJ
13 – Capital One Arena – Washington, DC
15 – State Farm Arena – Atlanta, GA
16 – Spectrum Center – Charlotte, NC
18 – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
19 – Legacy Area at the BJCC – Birmingham, AL
21 – Fedex Forum – Memphis, TN
23 – American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX
—
Photo: Erkyah Badu/Yasiin Bey
Chlöe Bailey has officially kicked off her In Pieces Tour, and she took a moment before the end of her opening night in Chicago on Tuesday to address people who have been taking jabs at her debut album on social media.
“Thank you all for supporting the motherf—ing album. F— what the f— everybody gotta f—ing say, they can kiss my black a– because I know you guys love me, and love is all I need,” Bailey told the crowd, who erupted in applause. “Thank you for loving me, thank you for being here. Thank you for your energy. Thank you all. I love you, god bless. You don’t know how much you mean to me.”
Bailey’s speech comes amid detractors on social media taking issue with some of the features on In Pieces (namely Future’s spot on “Cheatback” and Chris Brown’s on “How Does It Feel”) and the album’s performance on the Billboard 200 this week (No. 119, 10,000 units sold).
The Praise This actress’ comments also arrive after her April 7 appearance on The Tamron Hall Show, in which she explained that she “removed all socials” off of her cell phone and turned it over to her management team.
“I realized that I was changing myself for other people and their opinions and what they were accusing me of originally, which was not being myself and being forced, that’s what I was tuning into because I was so occupied with what people thought about me, but the second I deleted the apps off my phone, I was mentally so much clearer because you’re doing what makes you happy,” Bailey told the host.
See Bailey address her haters in a fan-captured video here.
Some people roll out the red carpet when Taylor Swift comes to town, while others give the singer the truly royal treatment. That explains why Tampa, FL mayor Jane Castor upped her game in advance of Taylor’s upcoming three-night stand at Raymond James Stadium.
The singer will kick off the run on Thursday (April 13) and in advance Castor lavished a pair of honors on the singer according to a video the Mayor posted on Twitter on Monday along with a very Swiftie message full of clasic Easter eggs: “#TAMPA are you ready for it? We’ve got a reputation to uphold!! Tag @taylorswift13 if you agree ‘Mayor Swift’ has a nice ring to it.”
In the one-minute video, Castor said, “Hey Taylor, this is Mayor Jane Castor. We are so excited to welcome you to Tampa.” Noting that the city’s weather “never goes out of style,” Castor said Swifties had spoken and were eager to find out what Tampa was going to do to welcome the singer to their city.
“We know Glendale changed its name, Arlington made a street sign, and Vegas illuminated their Gateway Arches, but here in Tampa, we’ve got a reputation to uphold,” Castor said of the stunts pulled by cities on earlier “Eras” dates to make the stops a little more special. “We want to go bigger. So I want to present you with a key to the city.”
Castor wasn’t done, though. She also invited Swift to be the city’s honorary mayor for a day. “Mayor Swift has a nice ring to it,” Castor said as she opened up a wooden box containing Taylor’s magic key. “We can’t wait to welcome you and your fans to Tampa (Taylor’s Version),” the actual Mayor added with a wink.
A follow-up tweet noted that in addition to the key and honorary mayorship, the city will light up its Old City Hall, the Tampa River Walk and downtown bridges in red in honor of the tour. Swift will be joined by beabadoobee and Gayle on the first night and beabadoobee and Gracie Abrams on Friday (April 14) and Saturday (April 15).
See the tweets below.
The Smashing Pumpkins announced a major North American summer tour on Tuesday morning (March 28) that will keep the veteran Chicago band on the road from late July through early September.
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The 26-date Live Nation-produced outing, dubbed The World is a Vampire Tour — a reference to an iconic line from 1995’s “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” — is slated to kick off on July 28 with the first of two dates at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, followed by gigs in Albuquerque, Dallas, West Palm Beach, Toronto, Ottawa and Franklin, TN before wrapping up on Sept. 9 at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, IN.
The tour will feature a rotating cast of opening acts, including Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots and Rival Sons, as well as bouts featuring some of the biggest stars from the Corgan-owned National Wrestling Alliance. The pre-sale for the shows opened on Tuesday and will run through 10 p.m. local time on Thursday (March 30). The General onsale will start on Friday (March 31) at 10 a.m. local time; click here for more information on tickets.
“I grew up in a world where I needed to know bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure existed, it meant there was a place for people like me to hang out and belong,” Corgan said in a statement announcing the tour he hopes will remind fans of some of the classic alternative tours and festivals of the 1990s. “That’s what The World Is A Vampire is about. Bringing back that sense of community. If you don’t fit in, you belong here. It’s about having a shared experience and respecting others, but ultimately having fun. A true alternative festival, where all the self-proclaimed weirdos and outsiders of the world can get together and have a party.”
The Pumpkins’ driving, new wavey new single, “Spellbinding,” got its radio debut on Tuesday morning during Corgan’s appearance on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show, during which the band also played “1979” and “Empires” live in the studio. The final act of the band’s three-part rock opera, ATUM, is slated for release on May 5.
Check out The World Is a Vampire tour dates below:
July 28 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan
July 30 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan
August 1 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre *
August 3 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre *
August 5 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre *
August 6 – Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater *
August 7 – Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre *
August 9 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre *
August 10 – Chula Vista, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre *
August 11 – Highland, CA @ Yaamava’ Resort & Casino **
August 13 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater ^
August 15 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavillion ^
August 16 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP ^
August 17 – Huntsville, AL @ The Orion Amphitheater ^
August 19 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre ^
August 20 – Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre ^
August 22 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion ^
August 24 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center ^
August 25 – Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion ^
August 30 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater ^
August 31 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live ^
Sept. 2 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage ^
Sept. 3 – Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre ^
Sept. 6 – Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre ^^
Sept. 8 – Franklin, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater ^
Sept. 9 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center ^
^ w/ Interpol & Rival Sons
* w/ Stone Temple Pilots & Rival Sons
**w/ Stone Temple Pilots
^^ w/ Interpol
Bay Area rapper Larry June is ready to hit the road with Larry’s Market Run Tour, which Live Nation announced Monday (March 20).
The 47-date jaunt will kick off on May 8 at Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater and hit various cities across the United States, including Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta, before eventually wrapping on July 23 at Oakland, Calif.’s Fox Theater for a hometown show.
Pre-sale for tickets starts Wednesday, March 22 at 10 a.m. local time, and general on sale begins this Friday, March 24 at 10 a.m. local time here.
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June’s tour arrives two months after the release of The Great Escape, his collaborative album with producer The Alchemist, due March 31. Previously released tracks “60 Days” and “89 Earthquake” will be featured on the project. Fans can catch an inside look at the making of The Great Escape in a 13-minute documentary (directed by Miggs) below.
His Spaceships on the Blade album ranked No. 4 on Billboard‘s 20 best hip-hop albums of 2022. Regarding the album, this reporter wrote, “The 20-track set plays like a laidback soundtrack for a late-night joyride (in June’s Lamborghini Huracán EVO, no less), as he whips though ’70s soul-funk on ‘Private Valet,’ ’80s R&B on the Syd-assisted ‘For Tonight’ and ’90s house on ‘Don’t Check Me.’ Even when he takes his listeners through the scenic route of his life, he reflects on the previous bumps in the road on ‘Organic Adjustments’ (‘You can hear it in my music/ Came from the bottom of it’) and maps out his ultimate destination on ‘Appreciate It All’ (‘Now we cop real estate, pass it down to the seed’).”
See Larry’s Market Run Tour dates below.
Courtesy Photo
Taylor Swift kicked off her Eras Tour over the weekend with a three-hour, 44-song extravaganza that folded in songs from all 10 of her studio albums at a stadium blow-out that was everything Swifties could have hoped for.
But also, she made her pal actress Emma Stone absolutely lose it. The Cruella star went viral after Friday night’s show in Glendale, Arizona when video surfaced of the star dancing like 60,000 people weren’t watching as she belted out the lyrics to “You Belong With Me.” In a TikTok entitled “Emma Stone losing her gd mind over YBWM,” Stone can be seen shouting the chorus and pumping her first from the VIP section.
Another video caught Stone going just as hard during “Fearless,” singing along and busting out some serious arm choreography. Stone and Swift have been friends for more than 15 years and there was good reason for Emma to be so hyped, as by all accounts Taylor brought some serious thunder to the kick-off of her first tour in five years.
“I can’t even go into how much I’ve missed you… I don’t know how to process all of this and how it’s making me feel right now… let me start by saying you’re making me feel fantastic,” Swift told the crowd at the sold-out show. The eagerly anticipated kick-off to Swift’s stadium tour left such a pop blast radius that country singer Kelsea Ballerini stopped in the middle of her show on Saturday night in Atlantic City, New Jersey to do a quick check-in.
“Can I just level with you for a minute?” Ballerini asked her audience. “Is anyone stalking The Eras Tour? Has it started?… I’m gonna stalk it after this, but I have one question. Is ‘Cruel Summer’ on the setlist?” For the record, yes, the Lover favorite that had never been publicly performed live by Swift finally got its time to shine at State Farm Stadium during the two-night opening run.
Check out the videos below.
It’s been just three days since Drake announced his It’s All a Blur tour with 21 Savage, but the demand is so high that he has already added 14 additional dates to the upcoming North American trek.
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On Thursday (March 16), Drizzy added second shows in Houston, Dallas, Miami, Detroit, Montreal, Washington, DC, Seattle, Vancouver, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Las Vegas — as well as third shows in Brooklyn, New York City and Inglewood, bringing the tour to a massive 42 shows this summer. The tour will kick off on June 16 in New Orleans, and will wrap on Sept. 5 in Glendale, Ariz.
The shows in Drake’s hometown of Toronto, Canada, will be announced at a later date.
The tour is the “Jimmy Cooks” artist’s first since his 2018 trek, Aubrey & the Three Amigos. According to the press release, as the title suggests, the It’s All a Blur Tour is “a celebration of the last decade.”
Tickets for the new dates will be available at the general onsale, which kicks off Friday (March 17) at noon local time on DrakeRelated.com.
See the new list of dates below.
Fri Jun 16 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center
Mon Jun 19 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Wed Jun 21 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Thu Jun 22 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Sat Jun 24 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Sun Jun 25 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Wed Jun 28 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena
Thu Jun 29 – Miami, FL – Miami-Dade Arena
Sat Jul 01 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Sun Jul 02 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Wed Jul 05 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Thu Jul 06 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Sat Jul 08 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Sun Jul 09 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Tue Jul 11 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Wed Jul 12 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Fri Jul 14 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Mon Jul 17 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
Tue Jul 18 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
Thu Jul 20 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
Sun Jul 23 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Tue Jul 25 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Wed Jul 26 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Fri Jul 28 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Sat Jul 29 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Mon Jul 31 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Tue Aug 1 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Sat Aug 12 – Inglewood, CA – Kia Forum
Sun Aug 13 – Inglewood, CA – Kia Forum
Tue Aug 15 – Inglewood, CA – Kia Forum
Fri Aug 18 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Sat Aug 19 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Mon Aug 21 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
Tue Aug 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
Fri Aug 25 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Sat Aug 26 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Mon Aug 28 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Tue Aug 29 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Fri Sep 01 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena
Sat Sep 02 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena
Tue Sep 05 – Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena
Robert Smith is explaining the serious measures The Cure is taking to avoid outrageous ticket prices for their upcoming North American tour. In a shot across the bow at re-sellers, when the tickets for the 30-date run of Shows of a Lost World Tour went on sale Wednesday morning (March 15) to those who pre-registered using Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system, will be non-transferrable in order to minimize resale and keep prices at face value.
The singer went on a tweet spree on Tuesday (March 14) in which he explicitly described how and why the veteran goth rockers decided to go their own way on this outing. “TM HAVE JUST TOLD ME ‘ALL tickets for The Cure Shows Of A Lost World Tour will be made available during tomorrow’s Verified Fan Sale,’” Smith tweeted, adding, “SEEMS THE RESPONSE TO REGISTRATION HAS BEEN PRETTY OVERWHELMING – THANKS! HOWEVER, I REALISE THERE ARE PROBLEMS, SOME MORE REAL THAN OTHERS…”
He then noted that the group had “final say” in all the ticket pricing for the tour, with Smith determined that those prices would not be “INSTANTLY AND HORRIBLY DISTORTED BY RESALE.” Smith referred to touts as being part of a “sophisticated business” expert at acquiring tickets and reselling them on marketplaces such as Vivid, Stubhub and Seatgeek.
Smith also revealed that the Cure were told that TM’s Verified Fan platform “has been used more than 400 times to qualify buyers and reduced the % of tickets on the secondary market” and that using VF has regularly reduced scalping by 80%, with less than 5% of tickets typically ending up on the secondary market.
By making the tickets non-transferable, scalpers will be unable to purchase tickets and then resell them for a profit since the original owner will have to be present to enter the venue. For fans who purchase tickets but can’t make it to the event, they will be able to resell the ticket on a face-value ticket exchange.
“WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER’S ‘Verified Fan Page’ AND ‘Face Value Ticket Exchange’ IDEAS COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS,” Smith wrote. “(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!).”
When the band announced the world tour earlier this week, they established that “there will be no ‘Platinum’ or ‘Dynamically Priced’ tickets on this tour,” which includes stops at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Moody Center in Austin, Madison Square Garden in New York and State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
The singer also tweeted that though TM’s Verified Fan is a “far from perfect system,” the reality is that if there aren’t enough tickets on sale, some fans will miss out no matter what system the Cure use. “At least this one tries to get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price,” he said. In the final comment in the Twitter run, Smith noted he’d been told that TM will continued to sell tickets to Verified users “until there are no more tickets to sell.”
The Cure’s efforts to combat resale ticketing comes after a season of in-demand tours facing astronomical price increases due to dynamic ticketing and scalpers. Ticketmaster is currently facing government inquiries into its handling of the disastrous Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale, which left many fans outraged when service delays and website crashes (caused in part by bots) prevented many of them from securing tickets.
See Smith’s tweets below.
TM HAVE JUST TOLD ME “ALL tickets for The Cure Shows Of A Lost World Tour will be made available during tomorrow’s Verified Fan Sale” SEEMS THE RESPONSE TO REGISTRATION HAS BEEN PRETTY OVERWHELMING – THANKS! HOWEVER, I REALISE THERE ARE PROBLEMS, SOME MORE REAL THAN OTHERS…— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
WE HAD FINAL SAY IN ALL OUR TICKET PRICING FOR THIS UPCOMING TOUR, AND DIDN’T WANT THOSE PRICES INSTANTLY AND HORRIBLY DISTORTED BY RESALE – WE WERE TOLD “In North America the resale business is a multi-billion $ industry.— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
The touts are sophisticated businesses that are expert at acquiring tickets, and the major marketplaces like Vivid, Stubhub and Seatgeek spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing. The touts get an unfair share of tickets and resell them on these marketplaces.”— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
WE WERE TOLD “Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform has been used more than 400 times to qualify buyers and reduce the % of tickets on the secondary market.— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
Using Verified Fan scalping is regularly reduced by 80%, with typically fewer than 5% of tickets on the secondary market after a Verified Fan campaign. Listed below are a few of the artists who have effectively used VF to limit resale.”— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER’S “Verified Fan Page” AND “Face Value Ticket Exchange” IDEAS COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
(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!)— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
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