OASIS fans in Ireland and the UK have slammed the band for “screwing them over” after it was confirmed the controversial dynamic pricing model will not be applied to tickets for their US tour.
Following a 15-year split, the band, led by second-generation Irish brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, announced their 2025 reunion tour over the summer.
Tickets for their UK and Irish tour dates went on sale on August 31 and were sold within hours.
Huge demand saw those hoping to get tickets met with long queues and buffering issues as the shows sold out within hours of going on sale.
But some of those lucky enough to get to the stage of purchasing tickets were faced with increased costs as result of the dynamic pricing model put in place by Ticketmaster.
The firm was accused of acting like touts for implementing the controversial pricing model on the sale of the tickets – which saw many standing tickets being sold for four times as much as their standard pricing.
At the time, their use of the controversial pricing model saw the Which? consumer champion call on Oasis and Ticketmaster to “do the right thing” and refund the difference to fans who were “misled into paying huge sums for tickets that were half the price just hours earlier”.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also investigating whether Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis tickets may have breached consumer law.
Oasis will embark on a reunion tour in 2025Today Oasis have issued a statement confirming they would not use the dynamic pricing model in the sale of tickets for their US tour dates.
“Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America,” the band confirmed.
“It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant number of fans lower than market rate and thus more affordable,” they explained.
“But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where an entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans.”
They added: “We have made this decision for the North America tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently.”
There was no mention of any remedy for fans in the UK and Ireland who had paid way over the odds for their tickets, despite their admittance that they had "an unacceptable experience”.
Ticketmaster used a controversial dynamic pricing model for sale of tickets to the UK and Irish gigsThat fact has not gone unnoticed among Oasis fans, who took to social media to share their disappointment.
“So just screwing your UK and Irish fans then. Nice. Working class heroes and all that,” Conall Ó Fátharta wrote.
“If you admit it was wrong and didn’t work out, why aren’t you offering partial refunds? Mike Barnett asked.
“That’s great to hear - don’t rip the Americans and Canadians off. But just the English Scottish Welsh and Irish,” Rob Donaldson added.
Today Sue Davies, Which? Head of Consumer Rights Policy, reiterated their call for Oasis and Ticketmaster to refund all those affected in Ireland and the UK.
"This is a damning admission from Oasis that they got it badly wrong when fans were forced to pay much more than they expected for UK gigs,” she said today.
“Which? believes the pricing practices used for the first round of Oasis ticket sales could have breached consumer law as its research found some fans weren't properly warned about the use of 'in demand' pricing.
“It is extremely unfair to let fans queue for hours for tickets only to find that they are no longer available at the advertised price.”
She added: "If the CMA's investigation finds that Ticketmaster customers may have been misled about ticket prices, it could open the door to individual fans making court claims.
"Instead of forcing people to go through that hassle, Oasis and Ticketmaster should take responsibility and refund the difference to fans who ended up paying over the odds for tickets that would have been half the price just hours earlier.”
