Bastille's Dan Smith takes aim at ticket touts who are "creaming off the top" of live shows and harming the music industry

25 March 2025, 18:08 | Updated: 25 March 2025, 18:15

Dan from Bastille talks tour dates, Hans Zimmer & ticket touts!

The Bastille frontman spoke to The Chris Moyles Show about the band's dates for 2025 and why he wants to oust ticket touts.

Bastille's Dan Smith has discussed ticket touts and the damage they do to the music industry.

The band, who formed in 2010, are set to head out on 2025 tour dates to celebrate their first 15 years together and the frontman has discussed on The Chris Moyles Show why he wants to eliminate touts from the selling process.

Talking about the huge effect hiked prices on secondary ticket selling sites has on everyone, the 38-year-old singer said: "I've had that experience, friends have had that experience. I've seen fans trying to buy tickets to our shows."

"Touts took last year £145 million pounds of what could have been going back into the music industry," he added. "And that's not just going into artist's pockets. That's grassroots venues, that's letting tours happen that bring up other bands. That's venues, that's all of it.

"That's a crazy amount of money and that's literally just scammers who've come along and created like a sub-industry that's just creaming off the top. And the music industry is struggling at a grass roots level."

Speaking about tackling the problem head on, the Pompeii singer went on. "We're trying to amass a big group of voices to go to this government consultation just to basically petition the government to make some changes."

The singer also suggested that the government doesn't have to look very far for ideas on legislation that could stamp out the issue, adding: "In Ireland, it's illegal to resell a ticket for anything more than face value."

Watch our interview with the frontman above and find out more about the Stamp It Tout campaign here and find out more about the Government Consultation here.

Read more:

• Bastille's Dan Smith opens up about body dysmorphia
• Bastille's 2025 From All Sides UK arena tour: How to buy tickets

Bastille's From All Sides UK tour will kick off at Plymouth Pavilions on Thursday 6th November and culminate in an epic homecoming date at The O2, London on Tuesday 18th November.

The gigs - which mark the band's first UK arena shows in over three years - promises to feature songs from across their discography including fan-favourites and deep cuts.

Bastille's From All Sides shows will be the only opportunity to see them perform live across the globe this year.

Tickets for the gigs go on pre-sale on Wednesday 25th March and on general sale on Friday 28th March from 10am.

A percentage of the proceeds from the shows will go towards to Youth Music’s ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign.

See Bastille's 2025 UK Tour dates:

• Thu 6th Nov 2025 Plymouth Pavilions
• Sat 8th Nov 2025 Cardiff Utilita Arena
• Sun 9th Nov 2025 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
• Tues 11th Nov 2025. Glasgow OBO Hydro
• Wed 12 Nov 2025 Newcastle Utilita Arena
• Fri 14 Nov 2025 Manchester AO Arena
• Sat 15 Nov 2025 Birmingham bp pulse LIVE (formerly Resorts World Arena)
• Sun 16 Nov 2025 Brighton Centre
• Tue 18 Nov 2025 London The O2

Visit bastillebastille.com/#tour for the full tour dates and to register for tickets.

Read more:

• How did Bastille pick their band name?
• What is the meaning of Bastille's Pompeii?