We’re closing this blog now, with a heartfelt salute to any Oasis fans still battling with the sale sites to secure tickets.
Some have been lucky, “We see things they’ll never see,” but for disappointed fans, “Please don’t put your life in the hands, Of a rock ‘n’ roll band, Who’ll throw it all away.”
You can read our report here:
A learning disability charity says the current methods of booking concert tickets can “exclude” some Oasis fans.
Jackie O’Sullivan, Mencap’s executive director of strategy and influence, told the PA news agency: “Lines where you have to press one for this and two for that, and online kind of booking systems are inaccessible to quite a lot of people with a learning disability.
“It’s the sort of thing that quite a lot of the public actually gets irritated by, but for people with a learning disability, it actually excludes them from being able to participate.
“And there was a huge amount of excitement in our office, (as) we employ lots of people with a learning disability, and when the news came about Oasis, lots of people were really looking forward to it and excited by it, and it would just be a huge shame if none of them were able to go.”
She urged promoters and online ticket agents to get in touch with her organisation to make it “simpler” by looking at the language used, as well as setting aside tickets for people with disabilities.
Ms O’Sullivan also said: “The kind of bottom line is, if you make things accessible and clear for people with a learning disability, you’re actually helping the general public as well because I think it is a risk that people end up paying over the odds for tickets and end up on disreputable websites, and things like that.”
Ticketmaster warns 'low availability' for all tour dates
All of the tour dates for Oasis have been flagged as having “low availability” on Ticketmaster.
Updated
International news wire Reuters has also reported on the chaos, reporting it was expected that the more than million tickets for the band’s gigs would sell out within minutes. “Instead fans were still waiting to get tickets over five hours later.”
In fact we are now at almost six-and-a-half hours since the UK sale sites went live.
Oasis fans trying for tickets to see the band’s reunion tour in 2025 have shared their “nightmare”, “frustration and anger” after missing out.
Fans vented their frustration at Ticketmaster after being kicked out of the queue or were deemed to be bots, which prevented them from purchasing tickets to see Noel and Liam Gallagher perform together once again on the same stage.
Longtime fan, Scott McLean, 28, tried for tickets to see Oasis in Dublin next year but said he felt frustration and anger after he was kicked out of the Ticketmaster queue.
He was in a queue of 20,000 for about 30 minutes before selecting four tickets to see the band’s show at Croke Park. However, his browser began buffering for half an hour as he tried to make the purchase, prompting him to contact the Ticketmaster customer service account on X, formerly Twitter, for advice.
“I followed their advice, cleared my cookies and cache on my browser and then it kicked me out completely. It just came up to that error screen after I followed their guidance,” he told the PA news agency.
“I had to rejoin the queue and I ended up about 700,000 places worse off after following their guidance.”
He said he feels “frustration and anger, not much more than that”, adding: “It’s just tickets for a concert after all, but I really wanted to go.”
Meanwhile, George Buka, 35, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, attempted to buy tickets to see Oasis in the UK and described his experience on Ticketmaster as a “nightmare”.
“It’s been an absolute nightmare of an experience. I’ve been doing it since 8am this morning, you have to queue in order to join the queue, you can’t log in,” he told PA.
“They don’t have the facilities or capacity to run this kind of event. But it’s not the first time Ticketmaster has made it difficult for fans to try and buy tickets.”
People hopeful of still finding a way to see Oasis in concert have been told not to “panic” by the official reseller website Twickets after some fans were booted out of online ticket retailer queues.
The company wrote on X: “If you haven’t secured oasis tickets then don’t panic, and certainly don’t buy on unofficial sites such as Viagogo & StubHub as these tickets will be cancelled.
“Twickets will have tickets available soon. Register to receive our newsletter and we’ll let you know.”
Earlier today, ticket reseller Viagogo defended having Oasis tickets on sale for inflated prices on its platform as a “legal” practice.
PA Media reported that Viagogo had two tickets for a Wembley show listed for £11,313 each.
I’m handing over to my colleague Sarah Haque now, thanks for following along. If you have tickets, congratulations, and to those still trying, good luck!
Alice Enders, head of research at media consultancy Enders Analysis, said touring was now the major source of revenue for many muisicans, and Oasis could expect a big payday.
She told Associated Press that Oasis are playing catch-up in a live music market that has seen “a relentless climb in expenditure, consumer expenditure, demand for festivals”.
“It’s been 15 years of a mega-trend that they missed out on, basically,” Enders said. “So it’s a good thing they’re jumping on now … If they wait too long, then they are just a bunch of old geezers.”
Josh Jeffery, a videographer who lives near Edinburgh, spent hours moving up the online ticket queue, before “the whole site collapsed” at the last step.
“I’ve given up, my friends have given up,” said Jeffery, who first saw Oasis in Manchester as a teenager in 1996. “We just decided it’s too much hassle,” he told Associated Press.
“As I was in the queue, I heard ‘Wonderwall’ blasting out from my neighbour’s house,” he added ruefully. “He’d obviously got tickets.”
Fans complain over accessible ticket phone line
Fans have said getting accessible tickets for Wembley is an “impossible task”, after they were advised to call a special phone line.
Frances Mobbs, from Norfolk, wanted to buy four tickets for her son Nick, 41, his carer and two family members, for the concert on July 26.
She sent through supporting documents for the accessible tickets and tried to call repeatedly for two hours when the phone line opened.
“My son has been a fan from day one, like millions of other people, of course, we’re trying to get tickets,” she said. “I know I’m one of thousands and thousands and thousands of people, but there’s one dedicated phone line which is constantly engaged or saying we are unable to complete your call. I’ve been calling for two hours, I keep repeating and repeating.”
Mobbs said her son, who is paraplegic and has spina bifida and hydrocephalus, had major surgery this year, and seeing Oasis is a “bucket list type thing”.
She added: “He’s not able to go in the crowd, he’s in a wheelchair. It’s just disappointing there isn’t a separate page online.”
She said that getting accessible tickets for Wembley was “probably an impossible task really at the end of the day.”
Fans report prices doubling on website
PA Media has more on the fans reporting on their experience of tickets more than doubling from around £148 to around £355 on Ticketmaster after they waited for hours to secure their place at the Oasis Live 25 shows.
An explanation by the website about the “on-demand standing ticket” price says: “The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value. Tickets do not include VIP packages. Availability and pricing are subject to change.”
When asked about this issue by the PA, Ticketmaster said it does not set prices, and shared a link to its website where it says costs can be “fixed or market-based”.
Updated
Dublin event sells out
Ticketmaster’s Irish site told Oasis fans that all of the tickets currently released for the band’s gigs at Dublin’s Croke Park have sold out.
At 1.23 pm, the website posted a message saying: “UPDATE: There are currently no tickets available. Please check back later as more may be released.”
Oasis’ reunion tour next year has not only sparked a frenzy for tickets to see the legendary British band, but also spiked the interest in tribute group Definitely Mightbe.
“I’ve made a living from it for a good 20 years, but since the announcement... the phone has just been off the hook,” Ian Alcock, the band’s version of Liam Gallagher, told Agence France-Presse.
“It’s lots of people ringing, [asking] ‘are you free? Can you do this? Can you do that?’” the 58-year-old explained, backstage at a Friday night performance at a working men’s club in Leeds.
Alcock seeing the group live for the first time in 1994 later as the Gallaghers toured the UK.
He was in the crowd when the band played at a local pub in his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent.
A studio owner and performer himself, Alcock began covering Oasis tracks as their profile grew.
He eventually founded Definitely Mightbe in the early 2000s.
Proclaiming themselves the longest established Oasis tribute group, they have since played more than 2,000 shows worldwide.
Aww, it doesn’t scan quite perfectly but you’ve got to love this effort.
Well done to the genuine fans who managed to get Oasis tickets. It will be great if more dates are added so anyone who hasn’t managed to get one this time gets one too. There were plenty of tickets left for Error 503.#Oasis #Ticketmaster #Error503 pic.twitter.com/bVVvuGGZy6
— All On The Board (@allontheboard) August 31, 2024
A plaintive call into the online void from Victoria Derbyshire, following similar frustrations from fellow journalists earlier.
Has anyone actually managed to get a ticket today yet? https://t.co/zD1RADbli6
— Victoria Derbyshire (@vicderbyshire) August 31, 2024
Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, is among many who have fallen foul of technical issues it appears.
Three hour wait for Oasis tickets and @TicketmasterUK crashes 😫 pic.twitter.com/H9BSXXTSCM
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) August 31, 2024
Reader Ufaq Qazi has got in touch to express his anger at Ticketmaster after he said that an offer for an £148 standing ticket disappeared and was replaced by an “in demand standing ticket” for £355.
[It was the] same as the £148 standing ticket but priced at ‘market value’ by the event organiser (according the pop up I got by clicking the information icon).
It appears he’s not the only one.
That feeling when you wait in a queue for four hours only to be told the price of the ticket has risen from £148 to... £355??? Because they're 'in demand'. How is this not illegal? @Ticketmaster @TicketmasterUK @oasis #Oasis #Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/jdmXWUkuBz
— Helen Barnett (@HelenFBarnett) August 31, 2024
Updated
A long-time fan trying for tickets to see Oasis in Dublin next year said he feels “frustration” and “anger” after he was kicked out of the Ticketmaster queue.
Scott McLean, 28, logged into his account on the ticket-selling website at 7.30am on Saturday ahead of Irish sales opening at 8am.
He was in a queue of 20,000 for around 30 minutes before selecting four tickets to see the band’s show at Croke Park.
However, his browser began buffering for half an hour as he tried to make the purchase, prompting him to contact the Ticketmaster customer service account on X, formerly Twitter, for advice.
“I followed their advice, cleared my cookies and cache on my browser and then it kicked me out completely. It just came up to that error screen after I followed their guidance,” the business analyst from Belfast told the PA Media
“I had to rejoin the queue and I ended up about 700,000 places worse off after following their guidance.”
He said he feels “frustration and anger, not much more than that”, adding: “It’s just tickets for a concert after all, but I really wanted to go.”
It seems likely that there will be many disappointed fans today and that many will turn to resale sites despite the band’s warning that these tickets could be cancelled.
PA Media reports that Viagogo has two tickets for a Wembley show listed for £11,313 each.
Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff shows also had high prices with some Heaton Park shows listed at £26,005 each for two tickets.
However, there did not appear to be tickets being sold on the Viagogo website for the two Croke Park shows in Dublin.
The Irish government introduced a law banning ticket touting in 2021. It prevents the resale of tickets at above face value, and warns people violating the rule can face a €100,000 (£84,245) fine or up to two years in prison.
Ticketmaster says 'inventory now limited' for Oasis tickets
Message on Ticketmaster: “Tickets for Oasis are still available, but inventory is now limited and not all ticket prices are available.”
5 News’ Dan Walker has tweeted about his painful experience trying to secure tickets. I didn’t hear it myself but a colleague also said that Nick Robinson told listeners to Radio 4’s Today programme that he was “stuck in a queue”.
I suppose it’s refreshing that celebs are experiencing the same frustrations as the rest of us rather than just bagging VIP freebies. Would also love to hear Nick Robinson’s honest playlist.
There has got to be a fairer, simpler, more efficient way of selling tickets that isn’t so open to touts, scammers, resellers & bots 🤯#Oasis
— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) August 31, 2024
In the queue, out of the queue, refresh / don’t refresh, wait in line, back of the line, accused of being a bot… timed out 😵💫
Updated
Fans are continuing to vent their frustration with the lengthy online queue for tickets.
Today, is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you.
— Lord Mark Bower (@ComicTherapy73) August 31, 2024
And by now, you should've somehow realised that Ticketmaster haven't got a fucking clue #Oasis #oasis2025 #OasisLive25 #Ticketmaster #ticketmasterareajoke #oasistickets
OK, so the Oasis tour is the biggest thing since Taylor Swift but other artists are keen to remind fans they’re not the only gig in town.
Stuff the @Oasis reunion… This is the anniversary tour I’m up for. pic.twitter.com/wRFfhSHTgZ
— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) August 30, 2024
International news wire Agence France-Presse are continuing to cover the chaotic ticket sale but it says its reporter, at the final stage of the purchase process after waiting online for several hours, was abruptly dumped to the back of the queue for one date, suddenly behind nearly 200,000 others.
It says exasperated fans were unimpressed, with social media full of memes and mockery, with one pleading: “Can we just go back to the old days of queuing outside the record shop or gig venue to buy tickets please?”
While we wait, anyone with the surname Gallagher may be interested in this offer from Hollywood Bowl that they can get a free game this weekend.
Under a press release headed You Gotta Bowl With It, the chain says guests will need to bring a valid proof of to show they share the same surname as Liam and Noel.
In an even more painful pun they have called the offer Wonder-Bowl.
IT expert warns 'huge possibility' bots buying tickets
An IT expert has warned there is a “huge possibility” that high numbers of Oasis tickets are being purchased by computer bots at once.
Ticket re-sellers often use automated software to buy more tickets for events than they are allowed, only to sell them on at higher prices.
Oasis fans also reported being hit with website outage issues while trying to book shows on Saturday.
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser at software security firm Eset said some groups have the right software and knowledge to manipulate ticket websites, and even use bots to “swoop in and purchase high numbers of tickets at once”.
He told the PA Media: “Being the next series of concerts since the demand for Taylor Swift tickets, I would suggest there would be a huge possibility of bots being used to swoop in.”
Viagogo defends 'legal' resale practices
Ticket reseller Viagogo has defended having Oasis tickets on sale for inflated prices on its platform as a “legal” practice after the band warned concertgoers that passes bought outside of the official websites will be cancelled.
Cris Miller, Viagogo global managing director, said in a statement to PA Media:
Our number-one tip for fans using secondary marketplaces is to continue to check prices outside of the first few weeks of sale. Demand will be at its peak when tickets hit the on-sale but it’s not a normal reflection of what tickets can and will go for. Just this summer tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in the UK sold on our platform for as low as £80.“In the case of Oasis - a highly anticipated event - we saw the primary sites struggling to manage demand even before the on-sale, and site crashes…
“We know fans are frustrated with the process and we know there is a better way. Resale is legal in the UK and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or their money back.”
Pete Cross is looking forward to a summer “full of enthusiasm and joy” after bagging tickets to see Oasis next year with his family in the pre-sale on Friday.
He said his entire family, including his wife, 21-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son, put themselves on a ballot to receive a presale code but he was the only who was lucky enough to get one.
“My kids are as obsessed as I am about music – Oasis underpins it all. When my daughter was five she would take a Definitely Maybe CD [into her room] to play quietly while she went to sleep,” said Cross.
Some “loyal” Oasis fans received a separate email with a guaranteed presale code. He said he was “naffed off” not to have received one of these emails, considering he spent about £200 on two versions of Definitely Maybe on vinyl, a CD tape bundle and a T-shirt in recent months. “A mate of mine got a loyal customer presale code for seemingly signing up to the Oasis mailing list,” he said.
Nevertheless, he is delighted to have nabbed four tickets to see the band at the Wembley stadium. “The relief was massive as the screen changed. We were going to see Oasis as a family. Quick hugs. A lovely moment,” he said.
For Cross, next summer cannot come fast enough. “It’s going to be so full of enthusiasm and joy. Oasis are back.”
Another successful punter is Guardian marketing manager Michael Roberts, on the point of some fans being thrown off websites for being bots, he says:
We had that as well and refreshed when sent back into the queue and somehow managed to get back to our purchase page – it’s chaos out there!
He also says he had to make up his mind over the offered tickets almost immediately:
We only got 60 seconds to confirm or chuck the tickets we were allocated- which is a new one for us on Ticketmaster.
Michael is off to Wembley on 3 August next year and says it “feels like we’ve won the lottery”. He adds:
So we’re playing Oasis on the speaker and making a real moment of it – but now we’ve got our tickets we’re still in the queue trying to help others. And, yes of course I’m wearing my big green coat and sunglasses.
I am definitely feeling like I need a Gallagher emoji at this point.
Updated
Oasis tour 'could make £400m'
A report by Agence France-Presse on the Oasis reunion says that ticket sales, merchandise and possible film licensing could generate an estimated £400m.
After accounting for expenses and paying their teams, the Gallagher brothers could come away with £50 million each, Matt Grimes, a music industry researcher at Birmingham City University, told the news wire.
After accounting for expenses and paying their teams, the Gallagher brothers could come away with £50m each, he said.
'Big buzz' in Manchester for reunion, says night time tsar
International news wire Associated Press has also covered the Oasis ticket sale, saying it got off to a “creaky start as online platforms strain under demand”.
It says that host cities anticipate an economic boost to hotels, bars, restaurants and shops – especially Manchester, the band’s home town.
Sacha Lord, Manchester’s official nighttime economy adviser, said “there’s a big buzz” in the city about the reunion.
“This is a homecoming gig,” he said. “When they set foot on that stage for the first time, it’s going to be a really special moment.”
Updated
Some fans have been joking that the band could split up again in the time it takes to secure tickets, given the brothers’ famously combustible relationship.
The Ticketmaster website right now pic.twitter.com/P001bKdCod
— Oasis Mania (@OasisMania) August 31, 2024
Some people have managed to secure tickets, including apparently this chap who says he will be travelling to Dublin (where tickets went on sale an hour before the UK ones) from Australia!!!
Guess I’m off to Europe then - wonder how many people from Aus will make the trip? #oasis #oasis25 pic.twitter.com/QniyXIkFcB
— Zac Smith (@talesfromzac) August 31, 2024
As we wait, let’s remind ourselves of Tuesday’s announcement that Oasis were reforming, “the stars have aligned”.
The guns have fallen silent.
— Oasis (@oasis) August 27, 2024
The stars have aligned.
The great wait is over.
Come see.
It will not be televised. pic.twitter.com/FaELtNlVMh
Ticketmaster: millions of fans trying to buy tickets
Ticketmaster said its website has not crashed.
A spokesperson 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.
Ticketmaster has responded to fans who were kicked off its site for being seen as bots.
Several users reported to the customer service accounts of Ticketmaster Ireland and Ticketmaster UK on X that their session had been “suspended”, says PA Media, and they were having to restart the purchase process.
Staff at the ticket-selling website replied saying: “Please make sure you are only using one tab, clear your cookies, and ensure you aren’t using any VPN software on your device.”
Updated
This morning’s sale follows the announcement by Noel and Liam Gallagher on Tuesday that they had put their acrimonious split behind them.
They confirmed Oasis’s long-awaited reunion by saying: “The great wait is over.”
Fans have been urging the brothers to regroup since they disbanded 15 years ago, a split prompted by a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in 2009.
It has not been announced who will be performing with Liam and Noel as part of Oasis.
Noel, 57, quit the group on August 28 2009, saying he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer”, and the brothers have made negative comments about each other for more than a decade.
It’s an understandably frustrating morning for many fans, including my colleague Guardian night editor Ian Ford.
This is the greatest day of many British people's lives as we're stuck in a queue full of nostalgia with little chance of success and ample opportunity for complaining.
— Ian Ford (@ij_ford) August 31, 2024
Although perhaps Ian is one of the fortunate ones.
You're lucky if you've got in a queue...any queue!! pic.twitter.com/M1OOhkkbU2
— Andrew Cook (@AWCook0558) August 31, 2024
Updated
Oasis warn fans over resale sites
Oasis have issued another warning to fans over reselling websites charging inflated prices for their tickets.
🚨Please note, Oasis Live ‘25 tickets can only be resold at face value via @Ticketmaster and @Twickets!
— Oasis (@oasis) August 31, 2024
Tickets appearing on other secondary ticketing sites are either counterfeit or will be cancelled by the promoters.
Fans urged to avoid resale sites
UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl also said inflated ticket prices on resale sites were of “great concern” during the Radio 4 Today show.
Kiehl added: “Obviously, it’s a natural tendency, if you can’t get tickets, to find alternative sources but I very much urge music music fans today, if they don’t get tickets, not to take that route.”
Updated
Amid reports of tickets appearing at hugely inflated prices on resale sites, the chief executive of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, Jonathan Brown, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that fans need to “open their eyes and protect themselves”.
He added: “It’s a dreadful combination, I suppose, you’ve got that high level of emotion, a high level of excitement about Oasis reforming, and a limited supply of tickets – and that’s going to lead to problems, it’s going to lead to people trying to scam people.”
PA Media have more on the outage issues. It reports that Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts’ website Gigs and Tours has been unable to load since around 8.10am on Saturday.
The site displays messages saying: “Please bear with us. At the moment there are a lot of people on the site looking for tickets, so we have put a queuing system in place, which is completely normal.
“This page will refresh automatically and we’ll get you where you want to be as soon as a space opens up. Thank you for your patience!”
Updated
Prices to watch a gig at London’s Wembley Stadium begin at £74.25, while the most expensive ticket is £506.25, which includes a pre-show party, exhibition and seated package.
The cheapest seats are at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium shows, which will set people back £73, and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium at £74, according to Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts, which runs the website Gigs and Tours.
Standing tickets at Wembley will cost fans £151.25, and the same tickets in Cardiff and Edinburgh are slightly cheaper at £150 and £151.
In the band’s home city of Manchester, tickets start from £148.50, with only standing available alongside a number of hospitality and luxury packages.
Before the announcement for the UK shows, Irish promoter MCD said on its website that the price of both of the two Croke Park gigs in Dublin would start at €86.50 (£73) without booking fees.
Which? has responded to reports that Oasis presale tickets are being listed on some resale platforms thousands of pounds above face value.
Lisa Webb, Which? Consumer Law Expert, said:
Oasis fans are understandably eager to snap up tickets to the reunion tour, but we’d strongly advise against buying any of the resale tickets currently popping up online at inflated prices. Not only is there a chance that some of these listings could be scam attempts, but even legitimate tickets could be cancelled, rendering them invalid, if they are sold outside of the official resale platforms or at above face value.
Resale tickets should only be listed on the official resale platforms, Twickets or Ticketmaster Fan-to-Fan exchange, and at no more than the price that was paid (its face value plus booking fees) originally.
If you buy through the official seller you’ll be entitled to a refund if the show is cancelled but if you buy through a secondary ticket seller, you may not get your money back. We’d also recommend paying using your credit card if the tickets cost more than £100, or by PayPal, which also offers an extra layer of protection provided you choose ‘paying for an item or service’ rather than ‘sending to a friend’.
On tickets.seetickets.com/tour/oasis a message said: “Our website is very busy! We have lots of people looking for tickets and you are being held on this page until a space becomes available. This page will refresh automatically.”
Ticket-selling websites hit by technical issues
Oasis ticket-selling websites are experiencing issues on Saturday morning as the band’s reunion tour goes on general sale.
Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts’ website Gigs and Tours is unable to load since around 8.10am.
It displays messages saying: “service unavailable” and “the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later”, PA Media reports.
Similar issues were encountered on the ticketmaster.ie page for the two shows at Dublin Croke Park shows, which went on sale at 8am.
Instead of a page opening to buy tickets, an error number was displayed, which usually indicates a webpage is unable to handle any more connections.
A similar code was visible at gigsinscotland.com/artist/oasis as Scottish fans had difficulties getting onto the website for the Edinburgh shows.
The website tickets.seetickets.com/tour/oasis, where you can book for several UK shows, also appeared unavailable.
Good morning and welcome to our blog covering the release of Oasis gig tickets with fans across the UK and Ireland who missed out on pre-sale access attempting to secure their place at the band’s reunion concerts during this morning’s general sale from 9am.
Fingers will be poised but on Friday evening the band issued a warning after unofficial reselling websites listed tickets obtained from the early sale for thousands of pounds.
A post to the band’s X page said: “We have noticed people attempting to sell tickets on the secondary market since the start of the pre-sale.
“Please note, 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 promoters.”
