Rage Against the Machine/Run the Jewels tour

Tom Morello talks Rage Against The Machine ticket pricing and scalpers

How did you make out procuring tickets for Rage Against The Machine‘s reunion tour with Run the Jewels, which went on sale yesterday? If you found yourself stymied by overinflated prices, you’re not alone; however, according to the band, they “are doing everything we can to protect 90% of the RATM tickets from scalpers,” as they explained on Facebook:

Since the announcement of our tour, scalpers and broker sites have been listing fake tickets for RATM. We want to do everything we can to protect our fans from predatory scalping and, at the same time, raise a substantial amount of money for charities and activist organizations we support in each city. At many concerts, up to 50% of the seating is scooped up by scalpers and then resold to fans at much higher fees. We are doing everything we can to protect 90% of the RATM tickets from scalpers, and then WE are holding in reserve 10% of the seating (random seats throughout each venue) to sell at a higher ticket price (but low enough to undercut the scalpers). We will donate 100% OF THE MONEY over the fees and base ticket price to charities and activist organizations IN EACH CITY. We are confident this will help many more fans get tickets at face value and put a big dent in the aftermarket gouging. WE HATE SCALPING AS MUCH AS YOU DO and will continue to try to find ways to combat it. Additionally, we are donating all profits from our first three shows to immigrants’ rights organizations and will be supporting multiple charities and activist organizations throughout the tour.

For those who said they still encountered sky high prices on regular tickets, Tom Morello took to Twitter to clarify further:

The MOST expensive ticket for ANY Rage Against The Machine/Run the Jewels headline show is $125 US (plus service fees) with the exception of CHARITY tickets where 100% of the additional proceeds go to charity. ANY other ticket at ANY other price is from SCALPERS.

When someone cited a $450 “nose bleed” ticket they said they’d seen on Ticketmaster in reply, Tom continued:

If it’s on ticketmaster for more than the base price it should be a Charity Ticket and say so. If not, send a screen shot and we will sue them!