In the absence of an international tour, millions of fans around the world rushed to get a ticket on Saturday. But the sales platforms crashed.
Oasis’ summer 2025 return tour sold out on Saturday night, ending a frustrating day for thousands of fans who had to contend with crashed websites and pay higher than advertised tickets.
In the absence of an international tour, millions of fans around the world rushed to sales platforms this morning to get a ticket for one of the 17 dates of this iconic Britpop group in the United Kingdom and Ireland, who announced on Tuesday that they had reformed after fifteen years of estrangement between Liam Gallagher and his brother Noel.
“The ‘Oasis Live ’25’ tickets for the UK and Ireland have sold out,” the band announced at 18:00 GMT, ten hours after the sale opened. “Please be aware that counterfeit and invalid tickets may appear on the black market,” it added.
The 17 dates should have sold out within minutes, but overwhelmed by the crowds, websites such as Gigs and Tours and SeeTickets went down before the sale even began, asking fans to be patient but struggling to restore access.
Hundreds of thousands of buyers were queued virtually for hours for each date or asked to join a waiting list. A spokesperson for Ticketmaster UK, the biggest ticketing platform, said the site was “working”.
Bad surprise
However, many fans were unpleasantly surprised to discover when they accessed the ticket purchase page, often after waiting several hours, that the price had almost doubled due to high “demand”.
“That feeling when you queue for four hours only to find out that the ticket price has gone from £148 to… £355??? Because they are in high demand. How is that not illegal?” one user on X protested.
Accused of being responsible, Ticketmaster UK responded on its website that “the event organiser set the price of these tickets based on their market value”, pointing the finger instead at the tour promoters.
Other fans were also abruptly sent to the back of the line without any explanation, behind nearly 200,000 people, like an AFP journalist who had reached the last stage of the purchasing process and was never able to acquire a ticket.
“Unfortunately, Oasis has already broken up again while you were waiting,” joked one internet user on the X network, where the thousands of humorous diversions quickly gave way to real bitterness.
Tough competition
Irish fans also lamented the “absolute madness” of opening an hour early for the two Dublin dates in mid-August 2025, for which there were no tickets left to sell by midday, according to Ticketmaster Ireland.
Oasis back: the great reconciliation of the sworn enemies of English rock?
The day before, a few people had been able to buy them exclusively after being drawn for a pre-sale. And given the craze, some of them were quick to try to resell them for several thousand pounds.
“Please note that tickets can ONLY be resold at face value via Ticketmaster and Twickets. Tickets sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the organisers,” the band warned on their X account.
Oasis will perform in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin and have added three dates to the 14 originally scheduled, representing nearly 1.4 million tickets, according to the BBC. A boon for hotels and pubs.
For this tour, which promises to be historic, the most affordable tickets had initially been announced at around 75 pounds (89 euros) for a seat in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff and 150 pounds (178 euros) in the pit.
“The right time”
Although “preparations are underway to take ‘Oasis Live ’25’ to other continents later next year”, some doubt the strength of the truce between the British rock sworn enemies.
The return of the duo, formed in Manchester in 1991 and which split in 2009 after yet another altercation at the Parisian Rock en Seine festival, was announced on Tuesday.
The reconciliation of the Gallagher brothers, who attacked each other on social media and in interviews for 15 years, does not come after “a big revelation” but “a gradual realization that this is the right time,” they explained.
It comes thirty years after the album Definitely Maybereleased on August 29, 1994, which launched Oasis with Liam as vocalist and Noel as guitarist and composer.
