‘Great’ Oasis back together but high-price resales ‘depressing’, says Starmer

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer has said “it’s great that Oasis are back together” but described high-price ticket resales as “depressing”.

MPs heard fans of the Gallagher brothers were “furious” when they found concerts in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin had sold out.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) had received 450 complaints by Monday, about adverts which allegedly made “misleading claims about availability and pricing”, and some fans found standard tickets had more than doubled from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster, as a result of dynamic pricing.

At the House of Commons despatch box on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said: “It’s great that Oasis are back together.

“I think, from what I’ve determined, about half the country were probably queuing for tickets over the weekend, but it is depressing to hear of price hikes.

“I’m committed to putting fans at the heart of music and ending extortionate price resales, and we’re starting a consultation to work out how best we can do this.”

Labour MP Emma Foody had asked during Prime Minister’s Questions: “Last week, ticket-selling websites like Ticketmaster left millions of Oasis fans furious, but worse still came minutes later when tickets started to be relisted online for thousands of pounds.

“This profiteering at fans’ expense is not a one-off.”

The MP for Cramlington and Killingworth called for a “new licensing body with real teeth to tackle this online touting”.

She added: “Does the Prime Minister agree with me that fans should be at the heart of live music and that urgent action is needed to protect fans against this horrid practice?”

Sir Keir replied: “Yes, I do.”

Labour vowed to “put fans back at the heart of events by introducing new consumer protections on ticket resales” in their 2024 general election manifesto.

“Access to music, drama and sport has become difficult and expensive because of ticket touting,” the document read.

Viagogo ticket exchange executive Matt Drew told the PA news agency: “It’s just a mess of an experience.”

Mr Drew also said: “We’re obviously aware that these inherent issues existed, and we’ve been saying for some time that this is an industry that needs much more competition.

“It needs much more of a focus on the fan and their experience, and it needs to be opened up and made much more transparent so that we can avoid the fiascos that we saw on Saturday.”