The Cure and frontman Robert Smith went to great lengths to prevent tickets for the band’s upcoming 2023 Shows of a Lost World North American tour from being scalped.
Tickets for the tour, which kicks off at New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center on Wednesday, are mobile-only and non-transferable. They can only be sold through Ticketmaster’s Face Value Ticket Exchange, which doesn’t add extra fees.
The idea, the band said, was “to give fans the best chance to buy tickets at face value."
Smith frequently updated fans via Twitter as tickets went on sale. On the eve of the tour’s New Orleans launch, he has also weighed in on a related bill being considered by the Louisiana Legislature.
The rock band The Cure performs at the UNO Lakefront Arena, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
House Bill 341, sponsored by Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge, would require ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster to give customers the option of buying either transferable or non-transferable tickets.
Though it won’t affect the Cure’s tour, the bill would undercut future efforts by artists to keep tickets out of the hands of resellers.
Resellers, or the automated bots they deploy to hoover up large blocks of tickets, could opt for transferable tickets, which they could then resell at a premium.
On April 19, the House voted 101 – 0, with four members absent, to pass HB 341. It is now making its way through the Senate.
It has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and International Affairs Committee and is scheduled for a hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday – roughly 12 hours before the Cure hits the stage at the Smoothie King Center.
Smith took to Twitter late Monday night to voice his opposition to the bill. In a series of tweets, he wrote, in the all-caps format he prefers,
“THE LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE (HB #341) IS CONSIDERING A RESELLERS-BACKED BILL TO BAN FAN-TO-FAN EXCHANGES (LIKE THE ONE WE ARE USING ON OUR 2023 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR TO TRY AND LIMIT/STOP SCALPING AND BOTS). THE BILL HAS ALREADY PASSED THE HOUSE...
“…AND IS UP FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE STATE SENATE. THERE IS A HEARING THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING… LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS! PLEASE DON’T PASS THIS BILL! EMPOWER THE ARTISTS, NOT THE SCALPERS AND THE BOTS!”
He added, “COMMERCIAL LOBBYING CORRUPTS DEMOCRACY X.”
The Cure's Reeves Gabrels, left, with Louisiana guitarist Tab Benoit, center, and Benoit's son, Tab Jr., at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Sunday, May 7, 2023.
Smith, his bandmates and crew have been in New Orleans for several days of rehearsals before Wednesday’s tour launch.
But it hasn't been all work and politics.
At least one member of the band also sampled the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's musical abundance.
Cure guitarist Reeves Gabrels and his wife, Susan, arrived in New Orleans last Wednesday. They had a full day at the Fair Grounds on Thursday, catching Durand Jones, the Hot 8 Brass Band, the Walter “Wolfman” Washington tribute in the Blues Tent, Santana and Larkin Poe, Susan Gabrels reports.
On Friday, Reeves Gabrels sat in with Gov’t Mule at the Orpheum Theater. He played guitar on Gov’t Mule’s cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” as well as Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
The couple returned to the Fair Grounds on Sunday to see Tab Benoit, whom Reeves met decades ago while on a Paul Rodgers tour, as well as Galactic featuring Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph and, finally, Herbie Hancock.
And on Wednesday, Reeves will join the rest of the Cure for the tour's opening night at the Smoothie King Center, with The Twilight Sad opening.
A handful of tickets ranging in price from $22 to $184, all at face value, are still available via Ticketmaster.
