‘Limited’ number of Oasis tickets left for sale

Noel and Liam Gallagher announced on Tuesday that they had put their acrimonious split behind them, confirming the band’s long-awaited reunion by saying: “The great wait is over” – although for thousands of fans a fresh wait began as they tried to access tickets.

A message on the Ticketmaster website at 2.37pm told those still queuing online on Saturday that the “inventory is now very limited”, with some ticket types no longer available.

The company’s Irish site said the shows in Dublin’s Croke Park had sold out so far, with more tickets likely to be released later.

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.”

People looking to secure coveted access to the Manchester band’s reunion in Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Dublin or their home city, had earlier reported problems on several booking websites before tickets had even gone on sale.

Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts’ website Gigs and Tours, Ticketmaster and See Tickets all told website visitors that they would need to wait for the page to refresh to join a queue.

Gigs and Tours and See Tickets appeared to experience issues from 8.30am, and still did not appear to have come back online at around 3.30pm.

Ticketmaster’s page refreshed after a period to tell hopeful concertgoers that they were in queue, and “when it’s your turn, you will automatically be able to browse events and shop for tickets”.

A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster denied the website had crashed earlier, and advised customers “to hold their place in line”.

Some Oasis ticket hopefuls also reported being “suspended” by Ticketmaster UK and Ireland after it accused them of being “bots”.

Staff at the ticket-selling website replied on X, formerly Twitter, through its customer service account, 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.”

It also shared a link with its guide on “how to improve your chances for getting popular tickets”.

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 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 news agency.

“I had to rejoin the queue and I ended up about 700,000 places worse off after following their guidance.”

Users on X, formerly Twitter, also reported the price for tickets nearly 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 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”.

It is believed that ticket prices are set by the promoters, not the artists.

Oasis told fans on Saturday to only buy tickets from the official websites amid reselling websites listing inflated prices for the Manchester rockers’ gigs.

The band said on X: “Please note, Oasis Live ‘25 tickets can only be resold at face value via @Ticketmaster and @Twickets!

“Tickets appearing on other secondary ticketing sites are either counterfeit or will be cancelled by the promoters.”

Twickets attempted to reassure fans, who had missed out so far, by telling them not to “panic” or visit “unofficial sites” for resold passes.

It also wrote on X: “Twickets will have tickets available soon. Register to receive our newsletter and we’ll let you know.”

Tickets are officially being sold via Ticketmaster, GigsAndTours, and See Tickets, however, the band’s reunion concert tickets have also been relisted on ticket exchange and reselling websites, Viagogo and Stubhub, for thousands of pounds.

Chief executive of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, Jonathan Brown, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “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.”

UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl also called inflated ticket prices of “great concern” on the show.

Mr 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.”

Cris Miller, Viagogo global managing director, defended his website’s practice of listing Oasis tickets for thousands of pounds, saying that “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”.

There did not seem to be any listing for the band’s Dublin dates on the ticket-reselling website. The Irish government introduced a law banning ticket touting in 2021.

Prices for a seat to watch the band at London’s Wembley Stadium begin at £74.25, with the most expensive ticket a £506.25 pre-show party, exhibition and seated package.

Cardiff’s Principality Stadium shows, Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium and Ireland’s Croke Park were all first listed at similar prices, while Manchester’s Heaton Park tickets start from £148.50, with only standing available alongside a number of hospitality and luxury packages.

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.

StubHub along with the official ticket sellers and promoters have been approached for comment.

A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster 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.”