Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, Take Note: The Cure Did It

Robert Smith and The Cure did what Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen refused to: they did right by their fans. And everyone won.

The ace music site Consequence of Sound shared this report last week. In their report, they break down the Billboard numbers on The Cure's latest tour. The "Shows of a Lost World Tour" grossed $37.5 million. That's off of over half a million tickets sold: 547,000 to be exact. Those are the highest-grossing numbers to date of a band that's been around for 45 years now. That's a big win.

The main reason why? Robert Smith refused to play the crooked ticket game. The Cure said no to Ticketmaster's platinum pricing. They squashed the dynamic pricing that's become the bane of so many ticket-buying music fans. They restricted ticket-transferring capabilities where they were able to, putting the kibosh on tons of scalpers in the process. Smith even got fee refunds for some fans.

And The Cure still made $37.5 million dollars.

As I wrote not too long ago, concert ticket prices are absolutely insane and will likely stay that way. Congress and the courts are paying lip-service to jilted Swifties, but that's all about P.R. They don't want to get on the wrong side of that fan base and, take it from me, that's the right move. It's unlikely any real change will come of any of it, sadly.

If change is going to come, it has to come from the artists. Robert Smith and The Cure are proof of this. They did everything in their power to keep their ticket prices affordable and fee-free and to keep the scalpers at bay. The fans were rewarded with affordable tickets and a great live music experience; the band was rewarded with record revenues.

If only Taylor and The Boss would step up and do the same. Then maybe we'd all be able to afford concert tickets again.

I made a few snarky tweets during Taylor Swift's performance on Saturday Night Live in 2021. Taylor Swift fans let me have it.

By the time I woke up Sunday morning, my tweets had been shared a thousand times over, and Swifties had absolutely destroyed my mentions. There were death threats, slurs, and an attempt to hack my Twitter account. No the most pleasant way to spend a quiet Sunday at home! But I have to admit, aside from the really bad stuff, there were also some damn good burns and earnest, astute arguments put forth. I wasn't a fan of the vitriol, but I have to respect the passion and knowledge of Taylor Swift fans.

In the end, I deleted the tweets and locked my account for awhile to avoid another hacking attempt, But first, I took screenshots for posterity. I've shared them below, along with a handful of the more entertaining replies. Because if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right? That being said, I don't recommend drawing the ire of Swifties on Twitter. They're a passionate bunch and, aside from maybe K-pop stans, are pretty much the one fan base you don't want to rile up.

Was my critique out of line? Does a middle-aged rock DJ have any business criticizing a pop star? Is a pop star untouchable once they reach a certain level of fame? I don't know. All I know is that I have a newfound appreciation for Taylor Swift and her fans. And if they can take their passion, organize, and apply it to, say, climate justice or racial inequality or the insane price of concert tickets (as I know many of them already have), then they could really make some noise.