The Cure’s Robert Smith Calls Out Ticketmaster Over ‘Dynamic’ Price Surge: ‘Bit of a Scam’

UPDATED: Rupert Murdoch and Ann Lesley Smith are no longer engaged, Deadline has confirmed, only weeks after news that the two were planning to tie the knot this summer. Smith was set to be wife No. 5 for the media mogul and chairman of Fox Corp.

Governor Ron DeSantis, seeking to gain an upper hand in his battle with The Walt Disney Co., on Monday ordered an investigation into the company’s move to retain extensive control over its sprawling Florida theme park property.

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has confirmed the band have cancelled 7,000 tickets found on secondary resale websites in a bid to tackle touts.As part of the on-sale process for their forthcoming North American tour, the frontman opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, and restricted ticket transfers in markets where he was legally allowed to do so in places like New York, Illinois, and Colorado, which have all enacted legislation protecting resellers.Following the band’s move to do this, Smith tonight (March 31) announced: “Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled. These are tickets acquired with fake accounts / listed on secondary resale sites.”‘IHBT’ #? “Approx 7k tickets across approx 2200 orders have been cancelled.

Thania Garcia The Cure‘s Robert Smith continues his long-drawn-out battle against the many monetary hurdles of the ticketing world — this time, he’s taking on secondary resale websites. Just a few weeks ago, Smith was able to secure several refunds from Ticketmaster for fans looking to catch the British band on their forthcoming “Lost World” tour. Now, Smith says they’ve managed to cancel 7,000 scalped tickets and further announced a plan to donate the original fees to the charity Amnesty International. Meanwhile, tickets will be resold to fans. When the tour — the band’s first North American trek in seven years — was first announced on March 9, the Cure opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, both of which have infamously been the cause of a massive uptick in ticket prices.

Robert Smith has asked Ticketmaster to explain why tickets in its promised face value ticket exchange are “weird” and “over priced”.The Cure singer and guitarist has taken the ticketing platform to task in recent weeks over its “unduly high” service fees for tickets to his band’s upcoming North American tour. Some fans claimed that Ticketmaster fees, including service fee, facility charge and order processing fee, exceeded the price of the actual tickets.Earlier this month Smith said that he was “sickened” by high Ticketmaster fees after the platform had vowed to the band to keep prices affordable for their fans.Now, some fans have claimed that tickets marked as face value are selling beyond the price of a standard ticket, and Smith has responded to what’s been alleged.

Fans aren’t afraid to let Kourtney Kardashian — or any KarJenner, TBH — know when they really don’t like something!

New York Post wrote a scathing editorial on Friday about Donald Trump, with a cover headline that calls the former president “deranged” and “bat hit crazy.”The editorial centers on Trump’s past behavior and reaction to the current real possibility of indictment in the criminal case he’s facing in New York related to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels, with Trump warning of “death and destruction” should that happen.“He hasn’t changed in the slightest. There is no shame,” the editorial board wrote.

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler have 30 years of friendship behind them, so it's no surprise that the 56-year-old comedian likes to poke fun at the 54-year-old actress.Aniston was on Tuesday's episode of  where she opened up about first meeting Sandler at a young age."[We've been friends for] over 30 years. We met at Jerry's Deli on Ventura Boulevard when we were 20 and 22," Aniston shared of Sandler.She said that though she and «the Sand Man» don't give each other advice, she does get her fair share of grief from her pal.«If I get anything from him, it's, 'What are you doing?!' usually based on someone I'm dating,» Aniston quipped, imitating Sandler shouting, "'What are you doing?! What's wrong with you?!'«Aniston has previously been married to Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux, and has had A-list romances with John Mayer, Vince Vaughn, and Tate Donovan.On Wednesday's episode of  Aniston and Sandler -- who are currently starring in the Netflix sequel,  spoke again about their friendship.»We do love each other.

Rupert Murdoch just announced that he’s engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, less than a year after finalizing his divorce from model Jerry Hall.

Rupert Murdoch is set to marry for a fifth time after becoming engaged to his girlfriend, Ann Lesley Smith. The 92-year-old joked "it better be" his last engagement after his six-year marriage to fourth wife Jerry Hall ended in divorce last August. Mr Murdoch said he met his 66-year-old girlfriend in September at his vineyard Moraga in Bel Air, California.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged to be married for the fifth time. He announced his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith in an interview published by the New York Post. This just happens eight months after he divorced former model Jerry Hall.

Rupert Murdoch is officially engaged to former police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith.

Rupert Murdoch is engaged, again.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Rupert Murdoch just can’t stay single. Less than a year after divorcing Jerry Hall, the 92-year-old Fox mogul is hearing wedding bells again. He’s engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old San Francisco police chaplain. According to gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who broke the story in the New York Post, Murdoch’s future wife was married to Chester Smith, a country-western singer, as well as a radio and TV executive who died in 2008. Adams reports that the two bonded over their shared knowledge of the media business as well as the fact that she once owned a vineyard and he still does. If they tie the knot, it will be Murdoch’s fifth marriage. Hall, a model and actress, was married to Murdoch for six years. In addition to Hall, Murdoch was previously married to Wendi Deng from 1999 to 2013; Anna Maria Torv from 1967 to 1999; and Patricia Booker, from 1956 to 1967.

Smith tweeted Wednesday.The ticket prices, which started at $20 and reached hundreds of dollars, later doubled in price thanks to the company’s fees.A fan bought 4 tickets priced at $20 each but paid a final sum of $172 due to a service fee of $46, a $40 facility charge, and a $5 processing fee.So @thecure and @RobertSmith wanted to keep ticket prices at a reasonable level for fans on their upcoming North American tour dates. Of course @Ticketmaster absolutely rinsed them with ridiculous extra chargeswtf even is a service fee or a facility charge or processing fee?? pic.twitter.com/jsgspXnifjThe rocker noted that while artists cannot “limit” the fees, the debacle has left him seething.“To be very clear: The artist has no way to limit them.

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has revealed that after speaking to Ticketmaster regarding the “unduly high” prices for the band’s upcoming US tour, the ticketing system will be issuing small refunds to verified ticket buyers.Smith announced the news on Thursday night (March 16) through Twitter following the launch of The Cure’s US tour tickets. “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,” the frontman wrote.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, 2023He continued, saying that all other ticket price transactions through verified fan accounts will receive a $5 per ticket refund for all Cure shows at all venues.

Robert Smith, frontman of the U.K. rock legends The Cure, is the latest artist to take aim at Ticketmaster for its business model.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor The living hell of concert ticket-buying loomed into the foreground again this week, but this time it was not millions clamoring for a limited number of Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen tickets but rather attempts by long-running British alternative band the Cure to avoid gouging fans for its forthcoming “Lost World” North American tour. While the group had managed to avoid such controversial policies as platinum packages and variable pricing, frontman/founder Robert Smith was appalled to see hefty service fees added to the cost of “Verified Fan” tickets, which are intended to protect fans by keeping tickets out of the hands of scalpers, for the tour.

The Cure’s Robert Smith has responded to criticism about ticket fees for shows on their upcoming North American tour, which in some cases exceed the price of the actual tickets being sold.The band, he said, had opted to sell tickets though Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system in order to limit the number that ended up on the big bad touting sites (or ‘scalping’ sites if you prefer, given these are US shows). Despite seeing positives with that approach, Smith said that he was also angry about the high fees charged by the Live Nation-owned ticketing platform.“I am as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster fees debacle”, he wrote on Twitter last night.

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has said he is “sickened” by high Ticketmaster fees for the band’s upcoming North American tour after they vowed to keep prices affordable for fans.Last week the band announced a 30-date tour across the US, which is set to kick off at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on May 10 before closing out at the Miami-Dade Arena in Florida on July 1.In an email to fans, Smith said they would keep ticket prices reasonable, writing: “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.”The band also said that tickets would not be “transferable” to minimise “resale and keep prices at face value”. Smith has since elaborated on the ticketing strategy, acknowledging “real problems” with the system and that it wasn’t “perfect”, but did clarify that the band had a “final say” over pricing.However, after the Verified Fan sale went live yesterday (March 15), some fans reported that Ticketmaster fees, including service fee, facility charge and order processing fee, exceeded the price of actual tickets.Smith has now responded, tweeting that he was “sickened” by the “ticketmaster ‘fees’ debacle”.He continued: “To be very clear: the artist has no way to limit them.