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Dan Walker has led the mass complaints against Ticketmaster, which has been branded “disgusting” and “nasty” after a disastrous day for thousands of Oasis fans.
On Saturday (31 August), tickets for Oasis’ reunion tour, which was announced four days earlier, went on sale, with many who had entered a pre-sale ballot spending their entire day refreshing the page in an attempt to gain access.
Many spent up to 15 hours trying to get through to the sale page after being repeatedly kicked off the booking website, which announced tickets had sold out just after 7pm.
However, it’s being highlighted that many succeeded in getting through only to discover that prices, which Oasis had previously confirmed to be £150 for a general admission standing ticket, had shot up to as high as £355 due to Ticketmasters’s surge pricing policy.
This dynamic pricing policy, which has been heavily criticised in the past, is the system’s response to demand, increasing or decreasing prices in line with what scalpers would resell them for, keeping the money in-house for the seller and artist. It is permitted under consumer protection laws.The Independent has contacted Oasis and Ticketmaster for comment.
The nightmare didn’t end there for fans, who also revealed that, despite queuing for hours, they were kicked out and “suspended” by Ticketmaster, who accused them of being a bot.
Broadcaster Walker expressed his anger on X/Twitter, writing: “There has got to be a fairer, simpler, more efficient way of selling tickets that isn’t so open to touts, scammers, resellers & bots #Oasis In the queue, out of the queue, refresh / don’t refresh, wait in line, back of the line, accused of being a bot… timed out.”
One frustrated fan added: “That feeling when you wait in a queue for four hours only to be told the price of the ticket has risen from £148 to... £355??? Because they’re ‘in demand’. How is this not illegal?” with another wading in: “How was your Saturday? 15 hours later still 0 tickets. Systems rigged and ticketmaster with their demand £400 standing tickets!! I hope Oasis release more dates.”
An additional fan posted: “Absolute disgusting behaviour from @TicketmasterUK for @oasis tickets. Sat in the queue for 2 hours, when it was finally my turn it kicked me out cause thought I was a bot. Devastated is an understatement, should be ashamed.”
Find more posts from angry fans, who are calling on Oasis to step in, below:
So all this talk from @oasis about reselling tickets was actually a con, as their own ticket agent @TicketmasterUK is the biggest tout going. Five hours in a queue, finally get through and prices have gone from £150 to £355 because the event is ‘in demand’. Complete sham #Oasis pic.twitter.com/gwzh3E2AuF
— Dave Shaw (@goosehtfc) August 31, 2024
So all this talk from @oasis about reselling tickets was actually a con, as their own ticket agent @TicketmasterUK is the biggest tout going. Five hours in a queue, finally get through and prices have gone from £150 to £355 because the event is ‘in demand’. Complete sham #Oasis pic.twitter.com/gwzh3E2AuF
— Dave Shaw (@goosehtfc) August 31, 2024
So all this talk from @oasis about reselling tickets was actually a con, as their own ticket agent @TicketmasterUK is the biggest tout going. Five hours in a queue, finally get through and prices have gone from £150 to £355 because the event is ‘in demand’. Complete sham #Oasis pic.twitter.com/gwzh3E2AuF
— Dave Shaw (@goosehtfc) August 31, 2024
Oasis has warned against buying resale tickets at inflated prices with companies other than its promoter, saying those tickets will not be valid – but has yet to comment on the dynamic pricing policy adopted by Ticketmaster.
According to the Ticketmaster website, its goal is to “give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the most in-demand tickets while allowing the artists and everyone involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their fair value”.
