The boss behind the ticketing industry has defended the process seen in the recent Oasis reunion tour sale.
The Britpop band announced a huge run of comeback gigs on Tuesday (August 27), dubbed Oasis Live ’25. Set to take place next summer, the trek will see Liam and Noel Gallagher perform on stage together for the first time in 16 years and is expected to gross a staggering £400million.
Tickets went on sale over the weekend and promptly sold out at 7pm.
The whole process, however, was far from smooth, with millions flocking to try and grab tickets and many – including Louis Tomlinson – being left disappointed after a series of issues arose. For instance, Ticketmaster crashed shortly before tickets were due to go live and a giant queue to contend with, social media users were left wondering if they’d even get their tickets in the first place.
Many fans complained about being kicked out of the queue after being mistaken for bots, while those attempting to purchase accessible tickets reported being unable to get through to the phone lines, despite some fans calling the designated number over 400 times.
Some who did eventually manage to get through the queue were then disappointed to see the cost of remaining tickets had increased due to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing policy.
Rachael Board from Devon, for instance, told BBC that she felt “completely ripped off” after forking out £495 for a ticket that she originally intended to pay £150 for.
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The increased prices came as part of “dynamic pricing” on Ticketmaster, where the prices can rise in line with high demand. Unsurprisingly, it has sparked widespread backlash from many fans, who saw that tickets that were originally priced at £135 had jumped up to nearly £400 later in the day.
Jonathan Brown, chief executive of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, however, stressed prices were set by the band and praised ticketing websites for coping with the “enormous demand”.
Speaking with BBC, Brown stated that the prices were set “by artists and their management”, and that dynamic pricing is nothing new and is allowed under consumer protection laws.
He also emphasised that the process is also used for hotel bookings and travel tickets much like Ticketmaster also clarified on their website. “People are used to that shift in price. I consider it unfair when a train ticket is much higher than I’m willing to pay,” he told the outlet.
Later, he said he did not know why the spike came later in the day despite there being high demand from the outset, and also acknowledged that while the process wasn’t perfect, he thought people “underestimated” how much pressure there was on ticketing websites.
Commenting on the process around bots – following countless being kicked out of the queue for being mistaken for a bot – Brown said that the rapid refreshing of a screen, using a VPN and more can trick the technology in place.
“You have to have something in place that resists those bots, otherwise those tickets really are unfairly going to go to those people who are going to resell them,” he added.
Earlier today (September 2), Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called for a review into “dynamic pricing” and secondary ticket sites following the scramble for Oasis tickets at the weekend.
Speculation has also arose around which previous Oasis members could be joining Liam and Noel on the road in 2025.
At time of writing, it looks likely that co-founder Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs is reportedly on board, however, previous reports claimed that “no other original Oasis member is expected to join the reunion”, and that “the members of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will step in”. It is not yet known who will be playing the drums on the tour.
Alan White teased online that he might join the band over the weekend, while original Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll already hinted he won’t appear in the reunion tour. He said to MailOnline: “I’m happy for Noel and Liam. Really happy for them…They haven’t reached out yet and to be honest I’m not holding my breath.”
More recently, it was reported that Gem Archer is “looking very likely” to join the line-up.
Set to kick off next summer, the dates will mark the Gallagher brothers’ first performance on stage together in 16 years. Since the announcement, the Britpop icons are also competing with Sabrina Carpenter to secure this week’s UK Number One single.
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