Fans of the legendary Britpop band Oasis have faced long waits to secure tickets for the band’s highly anticipated reunion tour. As thousands of fans prepared to buy tickets, online platforms became overloaded, resulting in hours of waiting and, in many cases, disappointment.
Oasis, led by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, has planned 17 concerts—their first performances in 15 years—taking place in cities such as Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, starting from July 4 of next year. Over one million tickets were made available for sale on Saturday morning, with prices starting at approximately £74 (nearly $100).
However, many fans who attempted to access authorized ticket sales sites like Ticketmaster and Gigs and Tours faced error messages, while others were informed they were in a long queue. Josh Jeffery, a videographer from the Edinburgh area, spent hours trying to get through the online queue before the “whole site collapsed” at the last moment. “I’ve given up, my friends have given up. We’ve just decided it’s too much hassle,” said Jeffery, who saw Oasis for the first time in Manchester as a teenager in 1996.
Some fans, however, succeeded in purchasing tickets through a presale lottery on Friday. Barista Isabelle Doyle shared her excitement with the Associated Press after securing two tickets to one of the band’s shows in London. “I’ve been a fan of Oasis for about 10 years now, literally since I was 11 years old. Finally being able to see them after they’ve given me so much as a teenager is just amazing, and I’m so excited,” said the 21-year-old.
Within hours, tickets began to appear on resale websites for prices of up to £6,000 ($7,800). Oasis issued a warning that tickets could only be resold at face value through authorized sites and that tickets found on other secondary sales sites are either fake or will be canceled by promoters.
But fans are not the only ones facing challenges. Affordable hotel rooms also appear to have been replaced with more expensive options in the cities where the concerts will take place. Some have reported on social media that hotels have tried to cancel reservations made before the tour dates were announced, only to relist them at higher prices.
The concerts are expected to provide a multimillion-pound boost to the British hospitality sector and economy. “There will be significant amounts of money spent on merchandise, travel, hotels, bars, and restaurants, as well as creating jobs directly linked to these concerts,” said Paul Haywood-Schiefer, senior manager at tax consultancy Blick Rothenberg.
Although Oasis, one of the biggest British bands in recent decades, plans to tour other continents, fans are expected to fly in from abroad for the UK shows. “If you want to see Oasis, then the best place to do it is really here in the UK, where they mean so much,” said Sutherland.
Formed in Manchester in 1991, Oasis was a dominant British act in the 1990s and is known for hits such as “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” The band broke up in 2009 after Noel Gallagher stepped down following a dispute with his brother during a festival near Paris. Although the brothers, now aged 57 and 51, have not performed together since, they often play Oasis songs at their solo performances and have repeatedly criticized each other in the media.
Oasis has stated that fans will experience “the spark and intensity” that only occurs when they perform together on stage, and expectations among fans are high.