Singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, has taken a stand against ticket touts and cancelled a New York show, after hearing that eager fans were being charged “extortionate prices”.
The 66-year-old Father And Son singer had been due to perform his first show in the city for 35 years but announced this week that he had decided to cancel the show and hit out at New York laws, which were “enabling [tickets] to be bought and sold at inflated prices”.
“Unfortunately I will not be performing in NYC this time around but I am looking forward to playing for fans in Philadelphia on December 4th and hope to return to NYC at a future date. My fans will understand and I thank them for informing me about the extortionate tickets prices already being listed on some websites.
“I have been a longtime supporter of paperless tickets to my shows worldwide and avoiding scalpers. Unfortunately NY has a state law that requires all tickets sold for shows in NYC to be paper, enabling them to be bought and sold at inflated prices. I’m sorry about not being able to now play in NYC but hope to find an opportunity that aligns with my support of this issue in the near future, God willing. Looks like the Peace Train is going to arrive at New York a little bit later than expected.”
