Cat Stevens, known as Yusuf Islam, has announced that his New York show on his US comeback tour has been axed in a bid to quash ticket touts.
His seven-city concert tour in North America this December, his first series of shows in the US since 1976, has now been shaved down to six because of the “extortionate” prices of tickets appearing on resale websites. Stating that “the Peace Train is going to arrive at New York a little bit later than expected,” the singer, 66, explained his ongoing qualms with printed tickets and apologised to fans.
“My fans will understand and I thank them for informing me about the extortionate ticket prices already being listed on some websites. I have been a longtime supporter of paperless tickets to my shows worldwide and avoiding scalpers,” he writes.
“Unfortunately New York has a state law that requires all tickets sold for shows in New York City to be paper, enabling them to be bought and sold at inflated prices. I’m sorry about not being able to now play in New York City but hope to find an opportunity that aligns with my support of this issue in the near future, God willing.”
Stevens’ adversity to ticket touts can be traced back to the 70s, where he criticised the ticket touts and pirate programme sellers who operated around his shows, as documented in a July 1974 issue of Circus magazine. The article reports that touts were selling £2 tickets for anything between £8 and £15. “I was so angry,” Cat said, “that at one point I seriously considered buying the tickets off the touts and redistributing them to my loyal fans.”
His North American tour will begin in Toronto on 1 December and will also visit Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. His tour will also take in a further nine shows in Europe, including two dates in the UK at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.
Stevens is also releasing a blues album on 27 October as Yusuf, the name he took when he converted to Islam. It’s produced by Rick Rubin and titled Tell ’Em I’m Gone.
The artist, whose most prominent hits include 1970s-era hits Wild World, Morning Has Broken and Peace Train, has gradually broken back into secular music during the past 10 years and has made only a handful of semi-public and television appearances in the US.
