The Guardian

Neil Young: ‘Concert tours are no longer fun’

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Neil Young has lambasted Ticketmaster over its sales policies, saying “concert tours are no longer fun” given what he sees as exploitative pricing.

Young wrote on his website: “It’s over. The old days are gone. I get letters blaming me for $3,000 tickets for a benefit I am doing. That money does not go to me or the benefit.

“Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers. Concert tours are no longer fun. Concert tours not what they were.”

He also shared a news article about the Cure, the band that has also been highly critical of Ticketmaster. Frontman Robert Smith told fans he was as “sickened as you all are” over Ticketmaster’s fees for the Cure’s forthcoming US tour. The band had sought to keep ticket prices low, but in some cases the fees levied by Ticketmaster exceeded the price of a concert ticket.

After talking to Ticketmaster, the band announced that the company had “agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high”. Ticketmaster offered a $10 (£8) or $5 refund on tickets, depending on the original price.

Ticketmaster was criticised by US senators at a hearing in January, with the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar calling the company “a definition of monopoly” after its merger with the concert promoter Live Nation in 2010. The Louisiana senator John Kennedy characterised the company’s sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour as “a debacle”. Technical glitches and an extensive “presale” period meant it was impossible for many fans to buy tickets.

Young performed live for the first time in more than three years in February, at a rally for forest preservation in British Columbia.

In November he said of future touring: “We’re trying to figure out how to do a self-sustaining, renewable tour. This is something that’s very important to me, if I’m ever going to go out again … and I’m not sure I want to. I’m still feeling that out.”

National

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2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281797108244571

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