Celebrities have hit out at the Oasis ticket fiasco as they joined the 14 million fans vying for tickets to the band’s sought after reunion tour.
Thousands spent this morning waiting in lengthy online queues in the hope of securing a ticket for one of next year’s shows.
While some were kicked off Ticketmaster before they were able to make a purchase, others have shared their horror at inflated ‘in demand’ prices as high as £350.
TV and radio presenter Dan Walker posted on X: ‘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
‘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.’
He added in a separate post: ‘How many times have you refreshed Ticketmaster?’
BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire was also left frustrated by the booking process.
She posted at 11.23am with a screenshot of Ticketmaster telling her she was in the queue: ‘Has anyone actually managed to get a ticket today yet?’
Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, said she waited three hours for tickets only for the site to crash.
The first batch of tickets went on sale yesterday at 7pm for those lucky enough to get a pre-sale code.
But within minutes of the sale going live, tickets were being resold for up to £10,000 by greedy touts.
Oasis soon assured on social media that 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.’
The general sale opened this morning with millions of fans vying to get tickets but many were shocked at the prices.
Emma Munnelly, queuing for tickets since 8:30 this morning, told she spent three hours waiting in a queue and a waiting room queue to buy tickets for herself, her husband and her daughter.
She said her daughter ‘has been desperate to see Oasis and couldn’t believe her luck when they announced they were touring’.
‘Expected to pay £148:50 for standing at Manchester, absolutely disgusted that when we had the chance of purchasing the tickets, Ticket Master had increased them to £355 each.
‘This was unaffordable and devastating for my daughter.’
‘It is such an unaffordable cost for many families and it should not be allowed to happen,’ she said.
Catherine Kremer said she had finally reached the front after four hours of queuing and now ‘can’t even buy a ticket ‘whatever option is chosen’, with in-demand tickets priced at £358.10 to stand.
Heidi Tringe told she got up at 3:45am local time in Montpelier, USA – and was horrified to discover the ‘In Demand’ prices when she finally got to the front of the queue, three and a half hours later.
‘The Ticket Options that were showing on the screen were the ridiculously Ticketmaster-inflated “dynamic pricing” tickets…
‘I attempted clicking on various buttons and “Find Tickets” to no avail for the last 30 minutes. I finally hit refresh – nothing changed. I hit refresh a few more times and then it said I had lost my place in line and could rejoin the queue.
‘This is so maddening, heartbreaking. If companies are going to have a monopoly on tickets, inflate the prices well above the prices the band has set, they damn well better have systems in place that can handle fan demand. Something needs to be done, both in Europe and in the US.’
Nicole Owen said she spent hours waiting in a queue on Ticketmaster for Heaton Park tickets. When she finally got to the front, she received error messages about her payment method.
Other cards received the same error – and when she tried to pay with another option, she was redirected to another page.
She said she has since been charged but received emails from Klarna, one saying the payment is still processing and another saying she has been refunded.
‘After several hours of retrying I was then booted from the website for being a “bot”.’
Others criticised Viagogo for selling tickets at multiples of the original price.
The managing director of ticket resell website Viagogo today defended the decision to sell opportunities to see the band at beyond the price set by the organisers.
Cris Miller said: ‘This is a dream event anticipated by millions worldwide.
‘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.’
He added: ‘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.
‘We continue to support industry collaboration to ensure the entire ticketing market works for fans and the live entertainment industry.
‘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.’
Ticketmaster notes that they do not have any say on the face value price of a ticket.
‘That is decided by the event organiser. What we do have a say over is the price that is displayed to you and we always ensure that you see the total price you will need to pay right from the beginning – we never hide our fees.’