Tom Waits Dooms Touts

Fans wanting to see the U.K. shows on Tom Waits’ Glitter And Doom tour will need to provide photo ID before being allowed in the venues.

The U.S. singer/songwriter, who has spent a great deal of effort fighting scalpers, teamed with Ticketmaster to work out the plan for his U.S. tour beginning June 17.

They believe it will ensure that every fan pays face value – plus the normal service and handling fees – and make life very hard for scalpers.

"Prior to entering the venue, fans must simply provide their credit card which was used to purchase the tickets, along with a government issued ID," Waits’ Web site explains.

Regular Music’s Mark Mackie, who is promoting Waits’ first shows in Scotland in 21 years, says the plan is working well. The first of the 3,000-capacity shows sold out in seven minutes – a venue record – and the second took about 30 minutes.

Tickets were limited to two per person and available only by Internet or phone.

It still doesn’t mean Mackie won’t have to go another round in his long-running battle against touts. A sales assistant at Worldticketshop.com, which was offering tickets at three times the face value of £75 and £95 four days before the event went on sale, told Edinburgh Evening News that she wasn’t aware of any new regulations regarding names and ID.

"We get our tickets from a supplier. That’s why we have to pay more for our tickets. The name on the tickets is always the name of the supplier. There is no need to identify yourself," she explained.

"Who the hell is she to tell us that?" Mackie told Pollstar, adding that management retains the right to refuse entry to anyone.

He said he hasn’t received any complaints about the way the tickets are being sold.

The tickets are printed with the name of the purchaser – and the user of the second ticket – and both need to show who they are at the door.

"When we did the Neil Young show in March, the tickets were selling at £500 a pair. But because of the scarcity, real fans are prepared to pay that," Mackie said, determined to do as much as possible to stop something similar from happening again.

He described the touts as "chancers" and said he’ll continue to try to stop them, although he believes very few of the tickets for the July 27-28 Waits shows will fall into their hands.

The European dates open in San Sebastian, Spain, July 12 and continue through Barcelona, Milan, Prague, Paris, Edinburgh and Dublin.