How can devoted Cure fans afford to follow The Cure?

[tanyasmith]

As I went on the 2016 tour, I kept seeing the same faces at other shows, all across the United States to London, England. Some fans I talked to had followed The Cure to every show. It made me wonder how they could afford it, how they had the time?

I couldn't afford to see The Cure until 2016. And this is not to brag, but just to be honest: I began working when I was 15 years old, juggling up to 3 jobs at times while going to school, and rarely had extra money until almost 2016, when I met my significant other and he told me to quit my jobs and let him take care of me. At that point, I had worked at 40 jobs, not including acting and modeling gigs, not including volunteer work. Since then I've saved up money to go to Cure shows, putting the transportation fees, hotel fees, and ticket fees on my credit card and paying it off. Strangely enough, right before I met my significant other, I put a picture of Robert Smith on my my wall, started listening to The Cure again regularly after having gone 16 years without listening to them much. A few months later, their tour was announced. Because I moved in with my significant other, I didn't have to pay rent and got to use that extra money to buy Cure tickets. It was phenomenal timing.

In 2016, I spent about $15,000 on going to Las Vegas, Mountain View, Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta, Hawaii, and ultimately London. That was for the two of us, but still, even on my own it would have been at least $10,000. I did buy expensive tickets for some of the venues, like $500 for our seats in Mountain View, but just general admission for most of the others.

I'm still deciding if I should go on their tour next year. They haven't announced coming to the U.S., so that would mean I'd have to go to Europe, and my significant other is not ready to travel again. He doesn't like flying because it burns too much gas and pollutes the upper atmosphere. Luckily the expense is not an issue.
Do most Cure fans go to one or two concerts, if any? And for those who follow them to many shows: how do you make it work?

[MeltingMan]

 Do most Cure fans go to one or two concerts, if any?

Good question. I hate to say it, but if they continue playing festivals it is
possible that I won't see them again. My financial room for maneuver allows
indeed one or two shows. Even with only one concert I would be satisfied because
it's so intimate and special! I have reduced my expectations to the lowest level, but
I won't complain (again). I still love The Cure. 

[dsanchez]

The most times I saw The Cure was in 2016 (six times). Currently I have a good job, no kids and live in a very good location in Europe (Bratislava) that allows me to travel anywhere... so, for now, I am able to follow the band pretty much everywhere in Europe with the following considerations:

1) I don't pay €100 or more if the band plays in a festival. That sum of money is reserved for only-Cure shows
in special venues.

2) I avoid travelling to the UK (as a Peruvian, and because UK does not belong to Schengen, I need to apply for a tourist visa which is nearly €200 on top of my expenses). Unless The Cure is playing a very special gig, UK is no-go for me.

3) For accommodation I stay at friend's or youth hostels. This helps me to save money.

As for the 2016 tour expenses:

Tickets

Wien € 70
Praha € 66
Hamburg € 71,11
Berlin € 0 - courtesy of a fellow curefans.com member
Bologna € 67,11
Roma € 100 (resale)

That makes €374 in concert tickets.

Accommodation and food

In each city I stayed only one night (except Hamburg - 2 nights), food and accommodation per day would be worst case  €100, that makes  €700 for the cities above.

Transport

To go to Praha I went with curefans.com's jakso by car and I returned with him, I think I helped with the fuel so maybe spent  €20 in transport.

From Bratislava to Bologna and then Rome and then back to Bratislava, I probably spent about  €150.

To go to Hamburg, then train to Berlin then plane back to Bratislava, probably around  €200.

Finally, round trip train from Wien to Bratislava is  €15

That makes  20+150+200+15 =  €385 in transport.

In Summary

I spent 374+700+385 = € 1500. This figure is an estimate, and you can add + - € 200 to this sum (souvenirs, etc.)

As how I pay this, I usually pay 50% from my debit card and the other 50% from my Diners card. I think I can lower these expenses if I organize carefully my trip in advance.

By the way, if The Cure ever plays in Bratislava, you all have free accommodation

[MeltingMan]

To be honest: I have no income except a small monthly pension (500 EUR; until 2039)
and two investment fonds. A return to my old job is extremely difficult, if not impossible.
I don't like to speak about my professional situation, but when I have to, it makes me sick
when people in town can't stand or accept the truth. I can't follow The Cure as I used to do, unless
I will find a job which fits perfectly into my life. Needless to say that Curefans has become more important.
10 or 15 000 $ is quite a fortune. It's the same with queuing for 13 hours. I mean it's your lifetime!

[tanyasmith]

Wow! You two inspire me to be more thrifty about my expenses when following The Cure. I guess I turned the 2016 tour (and 40th Anniversary show in Hyde Park) into vacations.    If they travel to the U.S. on their next tour, I'll do my best to keep the expenses low. Actually, at most shows I had extra tickets to give away, because I bought extra tickets to make sure I got good seats. If I have extra in the future, I'll post it on Curefans.

And if any Cure fans are in California, you can come stay with Sylvester and me in Laguna Beach, a location that is evenly between Los Angeles and San Diego. (An hour to San Diego, an hour to Los Angeles). 

keepglowing@yahoo.com

[x-phile]

This is a very good subject indeed... And makes go back in time... as it all began for me...
I started in 1986 listening and falling in love with this band because of my older brother and then in 87 with the kissing tour passing by so close to portugal (spain) but no money to go to...
In 89 was the year that we saved all the money to go to my first ever live show and my favourite band... we are talking 2500 escudos about 12.5euros for the ticket plus train and bus to Lisbon and back and of course something to eat and drink...
And that day I made a promise that I would never loose any more cure concert... thinking that they would come to portugal everytime they toured again...
In 92 there was wish tour and no Portugal dates... and no internet in those years... only mtv and teletext... and i saw on mtv that the cure would play in france... back then I had a part-time job so I could manage to go with my brother and a friend in my brother's car to france to see them playing 2 straight nights... (in 2000 dream tour I repeat this crazy car journey to valencia- spain to see them too) what an adventure this was... because back in 92 there was no mobile phones no internet no extra money or credit cards to save us if anything went wrong... the tickets were 160 french francs (around 25 euros) plus gas to go to france (bordeus and toulouse) and 2 nights in highway cheap hotel and of course something to eat and drink...
For me as I see it this was the time that in terms of money (and crazyness to go to the unknow) that cost me most...
Nowadays (thankfully) I can afford more money to go and see them playing but I feel not as special as I felt back on those days...

[tanyasmith]

Nowadays (thankfully) I can afford more money to go and see them playing but I feel not as special as I felt back on those days...

What is different now, x-phile? Are you just used to seeing them now so it's not as special, or is there something that's changed about the music?

[Ulrich]

Some fans I talked to had followed The Cure to every show. It made me wonder how they could afford it, how they had the time?

Well, we can only guess some people are rich and have a lot of spare time...
Some maybe save all their pennies and once the Cure are on the road they take time off work and follow the band around?

Because I moved in with my significant other, I didn't have to pay rent and got to use that extra money to buy Cure tickets. It was phenomenal timing.

That's great. I guess some Cure fans are just lucky to have that (extra) money.

Back in the days of 1996, I experienced some "perfect timing" as well. A friend of mine was off working in London for a few months, I had intended visiting her there anyway (I'd been to London a few times already, incl. seeing a Cure show at Finsbury park in '93)! So when the Cure shows at Earls Court were announced, I wrote her that I'll be there, booked a hotel & flight... of course this was some kind of "vacation" as well, as I loved being in London and doing some "sightseeing" (e.g. we went to Hampton Court)!

In 1998 I did a similar thing and visited a penpal (a Curefriend & her husband) in Leipzig and we went to see The Cure in Dresden (which is an hour to the east, by car). Being their guest of course kept the costs low.
(Later on, in 2000 they came over to visit me and see The Cure in Stuttgart on the "Dream tour"! On my own, I decided to drive to Munich for the next show. Later on, I travelled to Oberhausen to catch one more concert. That was the most I got to see The Cure during one tour: 3 times.)

Nowadays I have lots of other interests (incl. travelling, seeing other bands live etc.), thus I can't follow The Cure around for many shows. Also, the last "big" tour in 2016 was the first one without a new album to promote. I was happy with the concert I got to see in Stuttgart ("Disintegration"-heavy set list!), but what's missing is a way forward "into the future", they sort of turned into a band playing "the hits". (Which is okay, of course, many bands do the same thing.)

In general, I think it's a great idea for fans to turn the band's tour into some kind of "vacations", i.e. not just seeing the show(s), but also meet some Cure fans and look around the town a bit, go sightseeing and all that stuff. 

[tanyasmith]

but what's missing is a way forward "into the future", they sort of turned into a band playing "the hits". (Which is okay, of course, many bands do the same thing.)

If the new songs are good, The Cure is going to explode! I don't know what to expect. Are the new songs going to be modern, are they going to be quirky, are they going to shock us, are they going to sound like typical Cure songs (unique at the very least)?

Well, we can only guess some people are rich and have a lot of spare time...
Some maybe save all their pennies and once the Cure are on the road they take time off work and follow the band around?

I love hearing about how other Cure fans follow the band! I still want to know how those who take 6 months off to follow them everywhere are able to do it. Do they go into debt? Are they trust fund babies? Are they selling drugs to support their Cure habit? Haha.  Are they successful entrepreneurs? Actually, there's a successful artist named Chris Gwaltney who lives down the street and he has followed The Cure at times, told me that he listens to their music for inspiration. Cure devotees come from all walks of life.

[x-phile]

Nowadays (thankfully) I can afford more money to go and see them playing but I feel not as special as I felt back on those days...

What is different now, x-phile? Are you just used to seeing them now so it's not as special, or is there something that's changed about the music?

The difference is time and money... nowadays I have less time and more money opposite as when I was younger... and that makes all the difference for me... personally it's easier to be a cure fan in terms of money...
they can play anywhere around the world and (most of the times) it's easy to go to... but in other way despite I have "family permisson" to go to see "my first love/my first passion" that is the cure I can't just let go all my life behind just to follow them as I loved to... and that would not be possible too because lots of money I would spend for sure nowadays as some places/shows are becoming too expensive

[Ulrich]

If the new songs are good, The Cure is going to explode! I don't know what to expect.

After such a long time without new songs, I would expect them to somehow sound "typical" Cure, maybe with a little bit of "experimentation" with new sounds.
Seeing they will be doing "festivals" in 2019, I'm not exactly sure that new songs will be coming soon...
Of course, if it'll be a festival nearby (e.g. Rock am See or whatever), I should be able to attend.

... I can't just let go all my life behind just to follow them as I loved to...

I can totally understand that.

[MeltingMan]

Well, money is actually of secondary importance when it comes to The Cure.
What really matters is the location, the audience and maybe yet the season.
Hannover is the closest airport in my region (apart from Paderborn). European
cities or capitals are easy to reach, although we had a significant high number of
flight cancellations this year owing to weather extremes and the German railways
are unreliable at times. On the other hand, I must state that 1500EUR is remarkable
less for six concerts. Some of us travel a lot and save money for The Cure and that's
perfectly fine. Others have to plan everything carefully - like me. Even if you have seen
The Cure only one time in your life...it's enough to remember and talk about, I think.

[tanyasmith]

Even if you have seen
The Cure only one time in your life...it's enough to remember and talk about, I think.

Yes! 

[Ulrich]

Even if you have seen The Cure only one time in your life...it's enough to remember and talk about, I think.

Of course it is!
I do remember it well, back in the early 90s, how much I wished to see The Cure just one time!
That time came in 1992 and I was more than happy with it, it was a show I talked about for months.
Later on, of course, there was the chance to see more concerts, so I did...

[tanyasmith]

Of course it is!
I do remember it well, back in the early 90s, how much I wished to see The Cure just one time!
That time came in 1992 and I was more than happy with it, it was a show I talked about for months.
Later on, of course, there was the chance to see more concerts, so I did...

I was also going to see The Cure just once in 2016. It was the first time I could afford to see them and I was ready to see those faces come alive that had lived like statues in the posters on my walls as a teen. Well, one concert led to to two, led to three, led to 9! I kept feeling my heart pull to certain shows. I felt it strongest to the Honolulu shows, then to Wembley. One show is enough to last forever in the heart and mind, but if you can do more, it's worth it! <3