Oasis fans have scrambled for tickets for the band’s reunion tour, battling technical issues and waiting for hours in virtual queues.
Noel and Liam Gallagher confirmed the band’s long-awaited reunion on Tuesday, saying: “The great wait is over.”
Tickets for the Oasis Live 25 tour sold out within hours, with the band posting on X at 7pm that tickets for all 17 shows across London, Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin were gone.
Oasis reunion: Fans complain after website crashes
The frenzy for tickets started way before they went on sale at 9am (8am for the two gigs n Dublin) as Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts’ website Gigs and Tours, Ticketmaster and See Tickets all told website visitors they would need to wait for the page to refresh to join a queue.
Within minutes, online queues were in excess of 500,000 people.
Gigs and Tours and See Tickets then both appeared to experience issues from 8.30am until around 12.30pm.
A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster denied the website had crashed, despite fans posting grabs of their screens showing error messages, while others reported the website was being slow.
Some ticket hopefuls also reported being “suspended” by Ticketmaster UK and Ireland after it accused them of being “bots”.
The company advised people through its customer service account on X to ensure they are only using one tab, clearing cookies and not using any VPN software.
‘The countdown is on’
For those that did manage to get their hands on tickets, the countdown is now on for the live shows.
Olivia Bridge – who has a Live Forever tattoo in honour of her favourite Oasis song – told Sky News that she kept checking her email to “make sure it was real” after securing tickets for Manchester’s Heaton Park.
“The countdown is on now until next year, [I am] just ecstatic,” she said, adding: “It has not even quite sunk in yet.”
Meanwhile, fans trying to get accessible tickets for the five shows at London’s Wembley Stadium said it was an “impossible task” as they tried to call one dedicated phone number thousands of times.
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Frances Mobbs, from Norfolk, wanted to buy four tickets for her son Nick Mobbs, 41, his carer and two family members for the concert on 26 July.
She sent through supporting documents for the accessible tickets and tried to call repeatedly for two hours when the phone line opened, but said the line was “constantly engaged or saying we are unable to complete your call”.
“It’s frustrating, totally and utterly frustrating,” she said.
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‘Shameful behaviour’
Eager fans were also warned by social media platform X that the band had allowed Ticketmaster to sell tickets at higher prices via dynamic pricing.
It meant the price of standing tickets went up from £150 face value to £350 within hours due to huge demand.
One fan on X described the dynamic pricing as an “absolute disgrace” adding it was a “scumbag move”.
Another said: “Utter disgrace from @TicketmasterUK charging £360 for an in demand standing ticket after being advertised for £150, absolutely shameful behaviour.”
When asked about this issue, Ticketmaster said it does not set prices, and shared a link to its website where it says costs can be “fixed or market-based”.
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It is believed that ticket prices are set by the promoters, not the artists.
Oasis issued a warning on Friday, Saturday morning and again when tickets had sold out that tickets relisted on exchange and reselling websites, Viagogo and Stubhub, would not be accepted after they appeared for thousands of pounds.
A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster said: “The queue is moving along as fans buy tickets. As anticipated, millions of fans are accessing our site so have been placed in a queue.
“Fans are advised to hold their place in line, make sure they’re only using one tab, clear cookies, and ensure they aren’t using any VPN software on their device.”
