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Oasis fans hit out at Ticketmaster over higher ‘in-demand’ prices

Users on X, formerly Twitter, reported the price for tickets nearly doubling from around £148 to around £355 on Ticketmaster later in the day.

Jordan Reynolds
Saturday 31 August 2024 14:45 EDT
A screengrab from the Ticketmaster website detailing the in demand pricing information about Oasis concert tickets for sale in Manchester (PA)
A screengrab from the Ticketmaster website detailing the in demand pricing information about Oasis concert tickets for sale in Manchester (PA) (PA Wire)

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Oasis fans hoping to attend the band’s concerts hit out at Ticketmaster as prices were raised hours after tickets went on sale, describing the process as “sickening” and “scandalous”.

Users on X, formerly Twitter, reported the price for tickets nearly doubled from around £148 to £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 “in-demand standing ticket” price says: “The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value.

It's stomach-churning to see preying on people's desperation and getting absolutely gouged like that.

Darragh Moriarty

“Tickets do not include VIP packages. Availability and pricing are subject to change.”

When asked about this issue by the PA news agency, Ticketmaster said it does not set prices, and shared a link to its website where it says costs can be “fixed or market-based”.

Darragh Moriarty, from Dublin, said ticket prices had risen to 415 euro when he got to the front of the queue, but his friends had bought them for 180 euro.

The 30-year-old health charity worker said he had hoped a group of six would be able to go, but among his group only four people were able to get tickets.

He compared his WhatsApp group with his friends to the Hunger Games as they decided who would get the tickets.

He said: “We had a raffle between six of us, thankfully my name came out of the hat.

“None of us paid that price (415 euro/£349).

“The hope is most people don’t buy them at that rate and they go back down.

“It’s stomach-churning to see preying on people’s desperation and getting absolutely gouged like that.”

Mr Moriarty logged on to Ticketmaster at 7.30am and it was about 9.15am when he reached the front of the queue and saw the ticket prices.

He added: “It seems incredibly disingenuous, it’s just incredible.

“There’s justifiably a lot of anger at Ticketmaster.”

Meanwhile, on ticket resale websites, prices ranged, but the lowest seen on Saturday afternoon was £537 while the highest was £14,104.

A handful of standing tickets were on sale for the London shows on Viagogo on Saturday, ranging from £773 to £1,512. Seated tickets for London ranged from £655 to £5,971.

Standing tickets for the Cardiff concerts were on Viagogo ranging from £537 to £1,095, and seated tickets ranged from £596 to £5,906.

For Manchester, more than 400 standard tickets for Heaton Park were up for sale, starting at £608 and going up to £11,806.

For the Edinburgh concerts, the few available standing tickets ranged from £687 to £1,199. Seated tickets ranged from £714 to £4,977.

On StubHub, standing tickets for the London concerts ranged from £904 to £4,519, while seated tickets started at £843 and went up to £14,104.

For Cardiff, StubHub customers could get standing tickets from £959 to £4,519 and seated tickets from £549 to £6,029.

Tickets for Manchester ranged from £723 to £6,025.

And for Edinburgh standing tickets ranged between £775 and £4,519, while seated tickets were advertised from £843 to £2,283.

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

Original prices for a seat to watch the band at London’s Wembley Stadium began 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.

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.”

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