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Oasis Dublin concerts sold out, fans frustrated by queues and dynamic pricing
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Oasis Dublin concerts sold out, fans frustrated by queues and dynamic pricing

The Oasis reunion concerts scheduled for next August in Croke Park are sold out.

A message on the Ticketmaster website at 1:23 p.m. Saturday read: “UPDATE: There are currently no tickets available. Please check back later as more tickets may be released.”

Fans reported problems early on Saturday morning, including long lines and dynamic pricing, which caused the price of the coveted tickets to skyrocket.

The reunion tour includes two shows at Croke Park next August, as well as shows in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff. The UK shows went on sale an hour after the Irish ones, potentially fuelling demand for the Dublin shows.

Screenshot taken from the ticketmaster.co.uk website at 08:30 of the message about the queue to get into their website. Photo: Ticketmaster/PA Wire
Screenshot taken from the ticketmaster.co.uk website at 08:30 of the message about the queue to get into their website. Photo: Ticketmaster/PA Wire

From 8am on Ticketmaster, fans were experiencing problems. Instead of a page opening to purchase tickets, an error number was displayed, which usually indicates that a web page can no longer handle connections. Hundreds of thousands of fans are still queuing for tickets as they try to secure their spot at Croker.

Ultimately, more than 500,000 people joined the queue, as demand for the band’s reunion was so high for the first time since 2009. There was a three-hour pre-sale on Friday night, and some tickets were sold before the general sale.

A loyal fan who tried to get tickets to see Oasis in Dublin said he was left feeling “frustrated” and “angry” after being thrown out of the Ticketmaster queue.

Scott McLean, 28, logged into his account on the ticketing website at 7.30am on Saturday, before tickets went on sale in Ireland at 8am.

He stood in a queue of 20,000 people for about 30 minutes before buying four tickets for the band’s Croke Park gig.

However, his browser started buffering for half an hour while he tried to make the purchase. He decided to contact Ticketmaster customer service on X, formerly Twitter, for advice.

“I followed their advice, cleared my cookies and cache on my browser and then it just kicked me out completely. It just went to that error screen after I followed their advice,” the Belfast-based business analyst told the PA news agency.

“I had to get back in line and ended up 700,000 places lower after following their instructions.”

He said he felt “frustration and anger, not much more than that,” adding: “After all, it’s just tickets to a concert, but I really wanted to go.”

Promoter MCD announced on its website that tickets for both Croke Park concerts in Dublin would start at €86.50, excluding booking fees.

However, on Saturday morning, social media users reported that the cheaper tickets were no longer available after queuing for tickets on Ticketmaster. Instead, they were offered tickets that were available on demand and cost more than €400.

‘Research’

Dublin Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty has called on the Competition and Consumer Commission (CCPC) to investigate Ticketmaster over its pricing structure and advertising of the concerts.

“When ticket prices were advertised earlier this week, standing places at Croke Park were priced at €86.50 plus booking fees, but when many people eventually got into the online queue this morning they were offered the exact same ticket for a price of €415.50,” she said.

“That is not transparent advertising and certainly not fair to the consumer.

“The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) contains sections specifically designed to ensure that large platforms that control aspects of the digital economy don’t simply make up their own rules that are unfair to consumers. I think Ticketmaster’s ‘in-demand’ pricing structure certainly bears scrutiny in this context.

“Every ticket for these shows would be ‘in-demand’ anyway, so slapping an extra label and €300 on a few standing places is simply excessive.”

Ms Doherty said that following the sale of Oasis there is “more than enough evidence” to further investigate the pricing and advertising of larger concerts and added that she will write to the European Commission asking them to investigate their role at EU level.

Tickets for Oasis concerts in the UK

An error code was also visible on gigsinscotland.com/artist/oasis as Scottish fans had trouble accessing the website for the Edinburgh shows.

The website tickets.seetickets.com/tour/oasis, where you can book tickets for various shows in the UK, also appeared to be unavailable.

A message said: “Our website is very busy! There are many people looking for tickets and you are being held on this page until a spot becomes available. This page is automatically refreshed.”

Tickets in the UK went on sale at 9am via Gigs and Tours, ticketmaster.co.uk, gigsinscotland.com and seetickets.com.

Similar problems have occurred on the website of Manchester-based organiser SJM Concerts. Gigs and Tours has been unable to load since around 8:10am.

Messages are displayed that say: “service unavailable” and “the service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later”.

Screenshot of the message displayed on the screen, taken from the concerts and tours website at 8:30am.
Screenshot of the message displayed on the screen, taken from the concerts and tours website at 8:30am.

Standing tickets at Wembley cost fans £151.25, while in Cardiff and Edinburgh the same tickets are slightly cheaper at £150 and £151.

In the band’s hometown of Manchester, tickets start from £148.50. There are standing room only tickets available, with a range of hospitality and luxury packages available.

On Friday night the band issued a warning after unofficial sales sites recommended pre-sale tickets for thousands of pounds.

A post on the band’s X page stated: ‘We’ve noticed that people have been trying to sell tickets on the secondary market since pre-sales started.

Please note, tickets can ONLY be resold, at face value, via @Ticketmaster and @Twickets.

“Tickets sold in violation of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the organizers.”

Officially, tickets are being sold via Ticketmaster, GigsAndTours and See Tickets. However, tickets for the band’s reunion concert have also been relisted on ticket swapping and reselling websites for thousands of pounds.

Oasis tickets for Wembley Stadium were listed on Viagogo for up to £5,909, while some tickets for the London venue, listed under “Hospitality Club”, were on sale on StubHub on Friday night for £10,578.

(L-R) Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher perform at Marlay Park in Dublin. Photo: IrishPhotodesk.ie
(L-R) Oasis’ Liam and Noel Gallagher perform at Marlay Park in Dublin. Photo: IrishPhotodesk.ie

Ticket seller Viagogo has defended the sale of Oasis tickets at inflated prices on its platform as a “legal” practice, after the band warned concertgoers that tickets purchased outside the official websites Ticketmaster and Twickets would be cancelled.

Cris Miller, global chief executive of Viagogo, said in a statement to the PA news agency: “This is a dream event that millions of people around the world are eagerly awaiting.

“Our top tip for fans using secondary marketplaces is to continue checking prices outside of the first few weeks of the sale.

“Demand will be highest when tickets go on sale, but it’s not a normal reflection of what tickets can and will go for. This summer alone, tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in the UK sold for just £80 on our platform.

“In the case of Oasis – a highly anticipated event – ​​we saw key sites struggling to manage demand even before the sale and sites crashing.

“We know fans are frustrated with the process and we know there is a better way. We will continue to support collaboration across the industry to ensure the entire ticketing market works for fans and the live entertainment industry.

“In the UK, resale is legal and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or get their money back.”

StubHub’s website states that all Oasis tickets “come with our FanProtect 100% safe purchase guarantee.” Lisa Webb, consumer law expert at Which?, said: “We strongly advise against buying any of the resale tickets currently popping up online at inflated prices.

“Not only is there a chance that some of these listings are scams, but even legitimate tickets can be cancelled, rendering them invalid, if sold outside of official resale platforms or above face value.”

StubHub has been contacted for comment.