The Cure break touring records despite Robert Smith’s push for low ticket prices
The Cure have broken records with their latest tour, despite frontman Robert Smith’s fight to lower the price of tickets.
The records were broken with the band’s latest Shows Of A Lost World live shows in the US and Canada earlier this spring, which soon became their highest-grossing tour, and their best attendance in the region.
As reported by Billboard, the tour – which consisted of 35 dates and kicked off in May – grossed $37.5million (£29million) and sold over 547,000 tickets. The final date took place in Miami, Florida earlier this month.
It also reported that the most attended and highest-earning shows on the North American leg was the band’s three-night residency at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. These three shows, the outlet claims, brought in $4.9million (£3.7million) and sold over 50,800 tickets.
Another popular stop was New York’s Madison Square Garden, which sold 44,300 tickets and accumulated $4.1million (£3.3million).
These newly-reported figures make the Shows Of A Lost World tour The Cure’s best-selling and highest-grossing live shows in their 45-year-long career. Prior to this tour, the most tickets they had sold took place during their North American Wish tour in 1992, which sold 402,000 tickets.
Additionally, the recent shows also mark the band bringing in over double what they achieved with their 2016 North American tour – earning $18million (£13.8million) at the time.
Most impressive, however, is that these figures come following the frontman’s vow to keep ticket prices low.
Earlier this year, Smith spoke out against the excessive ticket fees, and claimed that he was “sickened” by the added service fees, facility charges and processing fees added onto the price of the band’s tour tickets.
He also spoke directly to Ticketmaster about the hiked-up prices, and later told his followers on Twitter: “After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and us a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for lowest ticket price (‘LTP’) transactions…”
1 OF 2: 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…
— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 16, 2023
He also added that a “$5 ticket refund” would be issued “to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions, for all Cure shows at all venues”.
As a result of his actions, the average ticket to see The Cure for their 2023 shows fared at around 37% less than other artists, and cost an average of $68.54.
From the first show – which took place in New Orleans on May 10 – the band made headlines with their live performances, which included performances of new and unreleased songs ‘Alone’, ‘A Fragile Thing’, ‘And Nothing Is Forever’, ‘Endsong’ and ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’, as well as two encores.
Additionally, last year the band earned a four-star review from NME for their London show, held at Wembley Arena.
“You feel that these songs are for those who mean the world to [Smith],” it read. “The band’s chemistry is aglow and a very chipper Smith’s voice sounding more powerful than ever. He promises that the new songs “won’t be new for much longer”. All we know is that it has been worth the wait.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
