The Cure’s Robert Smith attack on inflated prices a reminder not all artists are parasites

Attending an Olivia Rodrigo gig earlier this year, I forked out £60 odd quid to sit at the back of an arena and watch a performance predominantly on a screen, because stadium shows are trash. To make matters worse, I also paid £9 for a pint, which isn’t so much inflation as abuse of a captive audience.

The thing is, I can afford it. The gig was in my city, it wasn’t a long journey, and my friends and I all bought our own tickets. However, seeing the hordes of teenagers or young children with their parents, I couldn’t help but wonder if they could. Even with the cheapest tickets, for a family of four, it’s £240. Add in food, drinks, trains into the city or merchandise, and it gets even worse. I left that gig with a bad taste in my mouth, not from the beer, so much as the feeling like families and young people were being priced out of artists who claim to adore them.

Looking at the music industry as whole, it feels like a reckoning must surely be coming. Billie Eilish, a brilliant and genuinely quite revolutionary musician hasn’t sold out all her shows, probably because the Glasgow OVO Hydro prices start at £111 for fans looking for a single ticket, with two seated together going for £400. As Billie’s song warned, she’s the bad guy.

Then we come to Oasis, two working class lads who live in mansions who were incapable of speaking for years, but now they are have quickly adapted to utilising “dynamic pricing”, enabling them to actually fund a champagne supernova. Oasis deny they knew about it, naturally, but that might be even worse. We’re getting back together, who cares if the audience has sold a kidney to be here.

Now there’s going to be Government inquiries into dynamic pricing, a Competition and Markets Authority investigation, and hopefully a ban or ideally public shaming for everyone involved until the end of time. But that won’t mean it hasn’t happened, and it won’t stop artists continuing to innovate new ways to monopolise on the adoration of children.

With so much disappointment in the industry, hurrah for Robert Smith, a man whose songs are miserable but continues to give us reason to cheer.

The lead singer of The Cure made headlines this week for attacking artists who use dynamic pricing, and expressing his horror at “how much profit is made”, adding “we don’t need to make all this money”.

He added: “We didn’t allow dynamic pricing because it’s a scam that would disappear if every artist said, ‘I don’t want that!’ But most artists hide behind management.” Having routinely fought labels to keep prices lower, Robert is that rare thing in celebrity, a man actively engaged in his business to avoid fan exploitation.

What mensch, what a comrade, what a bloody relief. I already liked him, not least as he said he’d rather cut his own hands off before accept a knighthood.

Here’s to you Robert, if only the rest of the industry had your principles. Now that would be just like heaven.