Touts Out Now!

Tom Waits returns to perform live in Ireland for the first time in 21 years this July. He'll be doing three shows in a specially designed tent called The Ratcellar in Dublin's Phoenix Park on July 30, 31 and August 1.

The ticket issue has caused a lot of heat on internet forums around the world for a number of reasons. Firsty, the tickets are quite pricey - over £100 each. Secondly, those in possession of a ticket must produce ID on entrance to the gigs to show that the name on the ticket matches that on the ID. It's an approach that Michael Eavis has taken with his Glastonbury Festival over the last five years and it has worked well in stamping out ticket touts.

It does sound like quite a bit of hassle but these are the times we live in and these are sadly the measures we have to take to stop people getting ripped off. Some may say it's quite rich for someone charging a face-value of over £100 for a ticket to take measures in stopping people getting ripped off - but it's a case of 'better the devil you know' in my opinion.

Tom Waits tours very rarely. When he does, he plays very few dates, so demand for tickets is always going to be very high. Imagine if this ID policy was not in place for the Dublin shows coming up. With people from all over the world looking to get their hands on 15,000 tickets, you can just see the problems. Online touts can charge any price they want and they'll get what they demand. People will pay vast amounts of money to see their favourite performers. £1000 for a Tom Waits ticket? People have paid that! People have paid a lot more, for that matter.

Some would say that anyone willing to pay that amont of money to see someone sing deserves all they get. Maybe, but everybody, even mad fanatics, has the right to pay face-value for a concert ticket. There is a moral code that many music fans abide by. If they can't go to the show they will give the ticket to a fellow fan for face-value. These people are sadly few and far between in such times. As pricey as the Tom Waits tickets are, thankfully this ID procedure will see none of them showing up on ebay for a ridiculous price.