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Isle of Wight Festival boss John Giddings has claimed that Oasis would “snub” Glastonbury organisers due to the festival’s fee structure.
Last month, it was announced that brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher are set to reform the beloved Britpop band following years of estrangement.
Oasis are set to embark on a stadium tour next year, though have confirmed that they will not be playing at Glastonbury 2025.
The Gallaghers also confirmed that Oasis would not be performing at any other festivals throughout the year.
Speaking at the Experience 25, Giddings said (per The Mirror) that Isle of Wight and Glastonbury “can’t afford” to book Oasis as headliners, “because they want money”.
Within the UK festival scene, Glastonbury is renowned for offering lower fees to artists than many of its competitors. Organiser Emily Eavis has stated that this allows more of the festival’s revenue to be invested into its site, as well as charitable causes.
Elsewhere, Giddings issued a defence of Oasis, following a controversy over the high price of tickets for their forthcoming reunion tour.
“I think that they expected a big demand, I don’t think they expected more than 10 million people to apply for over a million tickets,” Giddings said, via Music News.
“What people don’t realise, what the general public don’t appreciate, is that within a ticket price, 20 per cent of it goes to the government in VAT before you begin,” he continued.
“It’s 10 times more expensive to put on shows since COVID, since Brexit, since all of that, and artists want to present a show. The back screen, the fireworks and everything going off with it. That’s what audiences want because we can see by the number of tickets they’re buying.
“People vote with their feet – if they don’t want to come then we’re all dead in the water.”
Unverified reports have claimed that the Gallagher brothers could be set to make £50m between them from the shows that have been announced – with merch sales and sponsorship deals on top of that.
Oasis are also expected to announce further tour dates outside of Europe at a later date.
