A rush for tickets to Oasis’ first concerts in more than a decade crashed the sites of Ticketmaster and other ticket sellers, prompting a backlash from fans who missed out.
Tickets for the 17-night UK and Ireland tour — the first since the band broke up in 2009 after years of infighting between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher — went on sale to the general public Saturday on Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster as well as Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts’ GigsAndTours.com. As of 5 p.m. UK time, both sites appeared to still be overwhelmed, with buyers stuck in long queues and experiencing errors.
“I literally stayed up all night in California and followed all the instructions and advice, completely to no avail,” said Jean Donaldson, founder of the Academy for Dog Trainers, who was online at 1 a.m. on the US West Coast, reaching as high as 67,000 in line before the site crashed.
Longtime Britpop fan Samuel Cheung, 44, said he logged on at 9 a.m. to try to get tickets. When he finally got to the seat selection page at 4 p.m., he got a message saying that his session had expired.
“I spent seven hours in front of a computer empty-handed,” said Cheung, adding that it only took him half an hour to get tickets for fellow Britpop band Blur last year. “I am quite disappointed.”
He said he’s already seen some sellers offering the tickets at up to six times the original price.
Ticket prices on approved sites varied as demand soared. Fans took to social media to vent their fury, with Oasis the top trending topic on X in the UK. Zarah Sultana, a Labour MP, posted that she waited three hours for tickets before the Ticketmaster website crashed.
Ticketmaster didn’t respond to a request for comment Saturday. GigsAndTours posted on X saying its website is under “extremely high demand” and encouraged fans to keep trying.
It’s not the first time ticket sellers have faced technical issues amid high demand. The snarls over ticketing for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour prompted criticism from the singer as well as a US antitrust probe into Live Nation.
On Friday evening, the Gallagher brothers issued a warning after tickets obtained in the pre-sale ballot were listed on unofficial reselling websites for thousands of pounds. A post of the band’s X page said tickets could only be sold via official sites, and any tickets in breach of the terms and conditions would be canceled by the promoters.