Did Oasis sell out yesterday? Definitely in Dublin. Maybe in Manchester. It was hard to tell.
Fans struggled to buy the million or so tickets that went on sale at 9am yesterday morning for the Manchester band’s 17-date comeback tour. Tickets had been expected to be snapped up in minutes, but instead many waited in online queues for hours, frustration mounting, only to be kicked off booking websites.
Perhaps it was inevitable that there would be drama surrounding the Oasis reunion. The band’s brothers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, had a famously fiery relationship, and had refused to speak to each other for long periods after splitting up in 2009. If they’re still keeping score, they will probably, possibly, be pleased to have made a bigger splash than last year’s reunion of their Britpop rivals, Blur.
The star of the day was Error 503 – not a track by cult 90s musician Aphex Twin, but the message received by some after they thought they had reached the front of the queue.
Some of those that did manage to select tickets for gigs in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dublin, London and, of course, Manchester found that the cost had risen unexpectedly – double in some cases – thanks to a policy of dynamic pricing.
The web portals of Ticketmaster, Gigs and Tours, and See Tickets all seemed to struggle with demand, prompting flurries of social media posts from fans, politicians and celebrities.
Dan Walker, the Channel 5 newsreader and former Strictly Come Dancing star, pleaded: “There has got to be a fairer, simpler, more efficient way of selling tickets that isn’t so open to touts, scammers, resellers & bots.
“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.”
Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, posted screenshots of her failed attempts to buy tickets. “Nationalise Ticketmaster,” she wrote.
A limited number of people were able to secure tickets through a presale ballot on Friday evening. Some apparently put their tickets up for resale, with floor-standing tickets listed for £720 to £4,500 on StubHub, while seats in some lower-level sections were on offer at £9,037.
Ticket touting had been high on the agenda for Oasis, who had warned that tickets “sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the promoters”.
But touts may have been behind the ticket website problems, according to Jake Moore, global cybersecurity adviser at Eset, a software security firm. Re-sellers often use automated software to manipulate ticket websites.
“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,” he said.
There was also plenty of fuss about dynamic ticket pricing. Fans reported seeing standard tickets previously at £148.50 being relabelled as “in demand standing tickets” with a price tag of £355.20 each.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson said the company does not set prices itself, pointing out a page on its website that 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’ .”
Tom Kiehl, UK Music’s chief executive, said inflated ticket prices were of “great concern” on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, in one of several reports the show devoted to news of the tickets going on sale.
“Obviously, it’s a natural tendency, if you can’t get tickets, to find alternative sources,” Kiehl said, “but I very much urge music fans today, if they don’t get tickets, not to take that route.”
By 1.23pm, Ticketmaster’s Irish site reported that all its tickets for gigs at Dublin’s Croke Park had sold out, but UK sites continued to list tickets deep into the day, albeit with a warning they had “low availability”.
Those who successfully battled through the ballots and last-minute website issues said they were looking forward to the “special” gigs after nabbing some sought-after tickets.
Oasis megafans Joseph Martin, 29, and his fiancée Molly Abbott, 26, faced a “rollercoaster of emotions”. Abbott, who was on holiday in Greece, began queuing at 8am. After about two hours, the unthinkable happened. “She got to the front of the queue and then the site crashed and she got kicked out,” he said. “She called me in tears and said ‘Oh my god, I’m never going to listen Oasis again’. I was gutted.”
Moments later, he received a text from Abbot that said: “‘Oh, my god, I tried it again, and I’m at the checkout for two tickets.’”
The couple consider Oasis their “all-time favourite” act – Abbott even has a Don’t Look Back in Anger tattoo – and had considered paying above the odds if they were unsuccessful on Saturday morning. Instead they will only need to cover £350 for a night in a hotel – roughly the same cost as their tickets.