Oasis Calls Ticketmaster’s Dynamic Pricing ‘Unacceptable Experience for Fans,’ Won’t Use It for 2025 North America Gigs
Written by djfrosty on September 30, 2024
Shortly after rolling out the first North American dates for their 2025 reunion tour, Oasis revealed that they will ditch Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing scheme for the gigs. “Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America,” the group announced on X in an official statement from their management on Monday morning (Sept. 30).
“It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable,” the statement continued. “But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the 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.”
The statement concluded, “We have made this decision for the North American tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently.” At press time a spokesperson for Ticketmaster had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
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The move comes in response to the bumpy rollout of the initial slate of dates for the first Oasis tour in 16 years. Back in August, the crushing demand for the summer 2025 UK/Ireland reunion shows by battling brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sparked some fury among fans who spent hours on queue in a desperate bid to snag one of the one million tickets.
The anger was such that the British government promised to open a probe into the use of dynamic pricing for concert tickets after fans who waited on digital line for hours discovered that the cost of a standing ticket had nearly doubled due to high demand. At the time, a Ticketmaster spokesperson said that all ticket prices are set by the tour’s promoters.
Dynamic ticket pricing has become a staple in the U.S. live music industry in recent years, but Oasis’ comeback tour – jointly promoted by Live Nation, SJM Concerts, MCD and DF Concerts – marked its most high-profile and possibly biggest roll out for live concerts in the U.K. and Ireland. The U.K. competition regulator launched an investigation into TM over the Oasis ticket roll-out a week after the initial on-sale prompted hundreds of complains from fans.
At the time, Oasis said they had “no awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used” for the UK ticketing roll-out, adding that “it needs to be made clear that Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management.”
The North American run of stadium dates for the 2025 reunion tour were rolled out on Monday morning, consisting of visits to five North American stadiums beginning with an August 24 show at Rogers Stadium in Toronto, followed by an August 28 gig at Soldier Field in Chicago and an August 31 stop at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
For now, the North American portion will wind down with a Sept. 6 show at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles and a Sept. 12 stop at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City. Cage the Elephant — led by brothers singer Matt Shultz and guitarist Brad Shultz — will open all the new dates.