The Cure's Robert Smith convinces Ticketmaster to partially refund "unduly high" fees to fans

The Cure's Robert Smith
(Image credit: Burak Cingi/Redferns)

Recently, Robert Smith has been faced with many unhappy fans aggrieved by unaffordable processing fees when trying to buy a ticket for The Cure's forthcoming North American tour.

The frontman shortly declared he was "sickened" by the company's charges on Twitter, particularly because he had made sure that ticket prices for the 30-date trek would be cheap. In an email to fans, he wrote: "The Cure have agreed all ticket prices, and apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no ‘platinum’ or ‘dynamically priced’ tickets on this tour.”

He also noted that the tickets would not be “transferable”, to prevent them from being resold by ticket touting services at an increased and unaffordable price. Despite his efforts, fans were finding that after the added processing fees, the charges amounted to more than the original price of the ticket. 

Smith's low ticket pricing was secured as part of The Cure's recent partnership with Ticketmaster, in hope that the company would be able to stop scalpers and to "get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price”.

Promising fans that he would look into the "debacle", he said: "If I get anything coherent by way of an answer I will let you all know."

Now, the vocalist has offered another update, revealing that he has managed to convince Ticketmaster to offer partial refunds to fans.

"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" he writes via Twitter.

He also promises a "$5 refund per ticket to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions" and "for all Cure shows at all venues", adding: "If you already bought a ticket, you will get an automatic refund; all tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees”.

The Cure's North American run will commence from May 10 in New Orleans, before coming to a close on July 1 in Florida. Check out dates below:

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The Cure North American 2023 tour:

May 10: New Orleans Smoothie King Center, LA
May 12: Houston Toyota Center, TX
May 13: Dallas Dos Equis Pavilion, TX
May 14: Austin Moody Center, TX
May 16: Albuquerque Isleta Amphitheater, NM
May 18: Phoenix Desert Diamond Arena, AZ
May 20: San Diego NICU Amphitheater, CA
May 23: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA
May 24: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA
May 25: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA
Jun 1: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Jun 2: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Jun 4: Salt Lake City Vivint Smart Home Arena. UT
Jun 6: Denver Fiddler's Green Amphitheater, CO
Jun 8: Minneapolis St. Paul Xcel Energy Center, MN
Jun 10: Chicago United Center, IL
Jun 11: Cleveland Blossom Music Center, OH
Jun 13: Detroit Pine Knob Music Theatre, MI
Jun 14: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON
Jun 16: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Jun 18: Boston Xfinity Center, MA
Jun 20: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Jun 21: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Jun 22: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Jun 24: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Jun 25: Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion, MD
Jun 27: Atlanta State Farm Arena, GA
Jun 29: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Jul 01: Miami Miami-Dade Arena, FL

Liz Scarlett

Liz works on keeping the Louder sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.