Goth-rock behemoths The Cure have smashed records on their latest tour, which was both the highest-grossing and the most-attended tour in the band’s history.
Their Shows Of A Lost World tour concluded in Miami at the beginning of this month and has shown to be a very successful run of dates indeed for Robert Smith and co. In total, the 35 dates accumulated some $37.5 million (£29 million) and sold over 547,000 tickets, as first reported by Billboard. The tour included a mammoth three-night residency at L.A.’s Hollywood Bowl, which alone raked-in some $4.9million (£3.7million) and sold over 50,800 tickets, proving to be the most popular dates on the tour.
The Cure’s shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden also proved a profitable one, rather unsurprisingly given the venue, having sold some 44,300 tickets and brought in $4.1 million (£3.3 million).
These figures dwarf the band’s previous touring heights, with their North American Wish tour in 1992 being the most popular of their previous tours, having sold 402,000 tickets.
Their 2016 North American Tour (simply called The Cure Tour 2016), meanwhile, was their previous highest-earning tour, raking in some $18 million (£13.8 million) – less than half their new record.
Of course, all of these flashy figures come after Smith made headlines for criticising Ticketmaster and the rather extortionate prices they were charging for The Cure.
Their Shows Of A Lost World tour concluded in Miami at the beginning of this month and has shown to be a very successful run of dates indeed for Robert Smith and co. In total, the 35 dates accumulated some $37.5 million (£29 million) and sold over 547,000 tickets, as first reported by Billboard. The tour included a mammoth three-night residency at L.A.’s Hollywood Bowl, which alone raked-in some $4.9million (£3.7million) and sold over 50,800 tickets, proving to be the most popular dates on the tour.
Photo: Kevin Winter
In March, The Cure frontman said he was “sickened” at the initial pricing and its inclusion of all sorts of additional service fees and charges. But rather than being all talk, Smith admirably spoke directly to the ticket operator and managed to secure a $10 ticket refund for all verified fan accounts and ‘lowest ticket price’ (LTP) transactions, among other things. $10 might not sound like much – but Smith didn’t need to go out of his way to push for that. In fact as a result of his vow to keep prices low, the average ticket to see The Cure for their 2023 shows was around 37% less than other artists, with an average cost of $68.54 (£59.53). And even with these lower-than-usual costs, The Cure still managed to smash their touring records. Well played indeed.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
