(London) A few tickets were still available on Saturday afternoon for Oasis’ return tour in summer 2025, the sale of which has sparked anger and frustration among many fans with downed venues and higher-than-expected tickets.
Millions of people flocked to ticket sales platforms on Saturday morning to try to get a ticket for one of the 17 dates of the iconic Britpop group in the United Kingdom and Ireland, who announced their reformation on Tuesday after fifteen years of estrangement between Liam Gallagher and his brother Noel.
Completely overwhelmed by the crowds, sites like Gigs and Tours or SeeTickets were inaccessible before the sale even began, asking fans to be patient but struggling to restore access.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster UK, the largest sales platform, assured that the site was “working”, with “millions of fans”. […] placed in a virtual “queue”.
“A few tickets are still available, but in very limited quantities” and only in certain categories, the site displayed at midday.
But it was so long that only buyers who got up at dawn had a chance to acquire the precious tickets, leaving the others in a waiting room… to access the waiting list, and this for hours.
However, many fans were unpleasantly surprised to discover when they accessed the ticket purchase page, often after several hours of waiting, that the price had almost doubled due to high “demand”.
“That feeling when you queue for four hours only to find out the ticket price has gone from £148 to… £355??? Because they are in such high demand. How is that not illegal?” one person on X complained.
Accused of being responsible, Ticketmaster UK indicates on its website that “the organizer of the event set the price of these tickets according to their market value”, pointing instead to the promoters of the tour.
Other fans were also abruptly sent to the back of the queue without any explanation, such as an AFP journalist who had reached the last stage of the purchasing process and was about to purchase his ticket to Manchester.
“Unfortunately, Oasis have already broken up again while you were waiting,” joked one user on the X network, where the thousands of humorous hijackings quickly gave way to real bitterness.
PHOTOS FRED TANNEAU AND TOLGA AKMEN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Liam and Noel Gallagher
Tough competition
Irish fans also lamented the “absolute madness” of opening an hour early for the two Dublin dates, for which it is currently no longer possible to buy a ticket, Ticketmaster Ireland said midday.
The day before, a few people had been able to buy exclusive tickets after being drawn for a pre-sale. And given the enthusiasm, some of them were quick to try to resell them for several thousand pounds.
“Please note that tickets can ONLY be resold at face value via Ticketmaster and Twickets. Tickets sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the organisers,” the band warned on their X account.
Oasis will perform in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, and have added three dates to the 14 originally planned, representing nearly 1.4 million tickets according to the BBC.
For this tour, which is already shaping up to be historic, the most affordable tickets were initially announced at around 75 pounds (89 euros) for a seat in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff, and 150 pounds (178 euros) in the pit.
For this tour, which is already shaping up to be historic, the most affordable tickets are around 75 pounds (around 130 Canadian dollars) for the concerts in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff, and around 150 pounds (around 260 Canadian dollars) for those in Manchester, the group’s hometown.
If they succeed, some fans will also be able to afford a 506.25 pound (nearly 900 Canadian dollars) ticket that gives access to a “pre-concert party”, an exhibition and special seats at Wembley Stadium in London.
The competition was all the tougher because, in the absence of an international tour, fans from all over the world rushed to buy this sale.
Because even if “preparations are underway to take Oasis Live’25 on other continents later next year,” some doubt the solidity of the truce between the sworn enemies of British rock.
The return of the duo, who split up in 2009 after yet another altercation at the Parisian Rock en Seine festival, was announced on Tuesday.
The reconciliation of the Gallagher brothers, who have been attacking each other on social media and in interviews for 15 years, does not come after “a big revelation” but “a gradual realization that this is the right time,” they explained.
It comes thirty years after the album Definitely Maybereleased on August 29, 1994, which launched Oasis with Liam as vocalist and Noel as guitarist and composer.