Oasis fans have branded the ticketing system for the band’s 2025 reunion tour unfair after websites were plagued with issues.
Tickets for the Oasis Live ‘25 went on general sale on Saturday at 9am in the UK and 8am in Ireland.
Around 14 million fans are thought to have logged on, with many joining the queues in the early hours of the morning and stuck waiting hours later.
The band, which hasn’t performed since 2009, announced the reunion tour on Tuesday.
Hopes had been slim amid the feud between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher.
Following the Friday evening pre-sale, tickets for dates in summer 2025 in Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Dublin and Manchester were released via Ticketmaster, Gigs and Tours and See Tickets.
Users of all three websites reported problems almost immediately as they struggled to cope under the strain of millions of users.
Fans hoping to use Gigs and Tours and See Tickets were left disappointed when both sites crashed and failed to load for the first hour and a half of the sale.
On Ticketmaster, users had to join an initial queue to be let into the site. They were then transferred into a second queue and given a number.
Some social media users reported being as far back as number 528,215.
The website urged users to be logged in to their Ticketmaster accounts, keep their phones nearby and have payment methods sorted in advance.
Scores of social media users posted that they were receiving error messages, with others perplexed as their sessions were “suspended” as they were suspected of being “bots”, according to a pop-up message.
Ticketmaster responded to the complaints as follows: “Please make sure you are only using one tab, clear your cookies, and ensure you aren’t using any VPN software on your device.
It also shared a link with its guide on “how to improve your chances for getting popular tickets”.
George Buka, 35, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said his experience on Ticketmaster was “an absolute nightmare”.
“I’ve been doing it since 8am this morning, you have to queue in order to join the queue, you can’t log in.”
“One of my sessions was suspended because they thought I was a bot. I only had one tab open and then I finally was able to join a queue at about 10am.”
Just before 1.30pm, tickets for the Dublin shows had sold out.
Once scores of fans reached the front of the queue, apparent availability issues left customers unable to add tickets to their baskets.
Jordan McCaffery, a 24-year-old children’s author from Belfast, described his experience to The Telegraph.
“The numbers [in the queue] started dropping quickly. I was suddenly on the actual ticket selection page.
“Shaking with nerves, I selected the tickets and went to proceed. Then I started getting all of the error messages. ‘confirming availability’, ‘connection lost’, ‘an error occurred’ and then my other device crashed after almost getting in.
“Four of my other friends elsewhere in Belfast experienced the exact same thing. It is so incredibly frustrating to have the tickets dangled in front of your face only for them to be ripped away because of the vendor’s incompetence.”
Those in search of accessible tickets also struggled.
Frances Mobbs of Norfolk wanted to buy four tickets for her son Nick Mobbs, 41, his carer and two family members, for the concert on July 26 but said it was “impossible”.
She sent through supporting documents for accessible tickets and repeatedly tried to call when the phone line opened.
“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. It’s frustrating, totally and utterly frustrating.”
Outside of official websites, tickets listed on resale sites exceeded £6,000 despite warnings that touted tickets would be cancelled and that resale items could only be purchased through official pages at face value.
On Stubhub, an American ticket exchange and resale company, The Telegraph found tickets for Wembley Stadium concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights listed at £6,347 on the lower levels, with club tickets going for £6,699.
‘As bad as the touts’
Fans were further outraged by Ticketmaster introducing an “in demand” standing ticket, costing £355.20.
This option was priced at more than double a general admission standing ticket.
Social media users branded the site “as bad as the touts” and likened the inflated price to “being scammed”.
Singer Alex Lipinski posted to X: “Ticket Master are a Mafia. To change a price from £150 to £356 while still on sale due to being ‘in-demand’ is scandalous. Whilst warning of unofficial sites hiking the price up with themselves doing exactly the same. How much longer can they get away with it?”
Darragh Moriarty, a Labour councillor, posted: “‘In demand standing ticket’ is just a standard standing ticket except double the price. No difference between Ticketmaster and touts.”
Regina Doherty, an Irish MEP, has called for an investigation into the pricing structure for tickets sold for the two gigs at Croke Park in Dublin.
The Fine Gael representative for the Dublin constituency urged Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Commission to examine the process.
“When ticket prices were advertised earlier this week, standing tickets in Croke Park were 86.50 euro plus booking fees, but when many people eventually got through the online queue this morning, they were faced with the exact same ticket at a price of 415.50 euro,” she said. “That’s not transparent advertising and certainly not fair to consumers.
“The EU’s Digital Services Act has sections included specifically to ensure large platforms that control aspects of the digital economy don’t just make up their own rules that are unfair for consumers.”
“Every ticket for these gigs was always going to be ‘in demand’ so slapping an extra label and 300 euro on some standing tickets is just extortionate,” she added.
Response to ‘in demand’ criticism
A spokesman for Ticketmaster said: “Promoters and artists set ticket prices. Prices can be either fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labelled as ‘platinum’ or ‘in demand’.”
The website added: “In Demand Tickets give fans fair and safe access to sought after seats at market driven prices.
“These are not resale tickets. In Demand Tickets are tickets offering sought after views and seats from Ticketmaster. The prices are adjusted according to supply and demand. Typically, there are no additional elements to a Ticketmaster In Demand Ticket purchase.
“An In Demand ticket isn’t a VIP ticket and doesn’t include any VIP inclusions.”
A Wembley Stadium spokesman said: “The demand for accessibility tickets to Oasis Live ‘25 has been unprecedented. Unfortunately, this has resulted in waiting times being longer than normal.
“For those customers unable to wait on the phone we have a call-back system in place which allows users to leave their details and await a response from our customer service team.”
Stubhub, See Tickets and Gigs and Tours were approached for comment.
The band announced all tickets were sold out at 7pm, adding: “Please be aware of counterfeit and void tickets appearing on the secondary market.”
Isabelle Doyle, 21, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was among the few thousands who received a pre-sale code and secured two tickets on Friday for £150 each.
“I sat in my living room, booted up Ticketmaster and I was about 5,000 in the queue. I was in the queue for about 40 minutes and managed to get two seated tickets for Wembley,” the barista told the PA news agency.
“I’m over the moon. I’ve been a fan of Oasis for about 10 years now, literally since I was 11 years old. Finally to be able to see them after they got me through as a teenager, it’s absolutely amazing and I’m so excited.”
