The Cure's Robert Smith steps up crusade on secondary ticket sales

Robert Smith of The Cure performs live on stage at Wembley Arena
(Image credit: Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Robert Smith says The Cure have helped to cancel 7000 tickets bought for their shows by fake accounts and listed on secondary resale sites.

Smith previously spoke of his disgust at the Ticketmaster fees fans were being hit with when trying to buy tickets for the band's upcoming North American tour. The band attempted to make the gigs affordable for fans by setting low ticket prices.

But added Ticketmaster charges – including the service fee, facility charge and order processing fee – surpassed the face value of the tickets.

The Cure insisted they would make tickets non-transferable in locations where laws exist to make that possible. This would prevent tickets from being resold by touting services at an increased price.

Now Smith is following through with that commitment by working to pull tickets from secondary resale websites.

He says: "Approximately 7000 tickets across approximately 2200 orders have been cancelled. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites."

He also warns fans not to try to get round resale restrictions or buy tickets from anyone offering workarounds.

He adds: "Offering to sell/send account login details to get around Ticketmaster transfer limitations ... any/all tickets obtained in this way will be cancelled and original fees paid on those tickets will not be refunded.

"Original fees paid on those tickets will be donated to Amnesty International and the tickets themselves will be resold to fans."

The tour begins in New Orleans on May 10. Tickets are on sale now.

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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

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.