Fed up fans have called on Oasis to give price surge refunds following the reunion tour ticket scramble.
They have discovered superstars like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran did not use the same controversial selling scheme.
Thousands queued for 11 hours online to get their hands on gold dust passes to see the buried-the-hatchet Gallagher brothers’ UK and Ireland comeback next year only to find when they finally got through prices had shot up from around £135 to £355.
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Ticketmaster – which ran the sale – said its dynamic pricing scheme increased the cost of seats as they sold out to stop touts cashing in by buying them at face value and flogging them at vastly inflated prices. The ticket firm said the band and its promoters had given the system their blessing – and only they will profit from the extra income.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
That prompted fans to turn on Oasis calling on Liam and Noel to get Ticketmaster to refund the surge cost – the difference between the tickets’ face value and soaring sums they had to shell out at the end – for those who paid extra. Fans urged them to follow a precedent set by New Zealand band Crowded House which paid back profits they unwittingly made from surge pricing.
One wrote on X: “Crowded House made Ticketmaster/Live Nation refund fans the difference as they were unaware at the time what was going on. If Oasis were unaware (which I doubt) they could and should refund anything over face value.”
Another wrote online: “Naively, I thought Liam and Noel would have said no to the option of dynamic pricing. They are making a fortune out of the reunion and didn’t need to alienate fans by hiking prices at the last minute.”
“You don’t have to buy a ticket but prices should be fixed, and resale sites should be made to sell at ticket price or less,” said another. One more wrote: “They are probably gutted they didn’t charge more.”
(Image: PA)
More than 7,000 signed an online petition calling for dynamic pricing to be outlawed. While 450 lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority which is considering launching a probe.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called it “incredibly depressing” and announced surge pricing would be included in a Government review of the ticket resale market.
She said: “After the incredible news of Oasis’ return it’s depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live. Working with artists, industry and fans we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices.”
Ticketmaster brought in dynamic pricing in the UK two years ago after it became popular in the US. Industry experts said Bruce Springsteen gave other artists the green light after signing up in 2022.
Prices for a premium seat on his US tour soared to a high of £3,800 as a result. Springsteen said he had been playing at “under market value” for 50 years and his loyal E Street band deserved to reap greater benefits for delivering a three-hour show.
(Image: Getty Images)
But some artists have opted out. Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift reportedly did not adopt it for their recent UK tours.
Scottish musician Aidan Moffat, who performs with the band Arab Strap, wrote on X: “Yes, artists can opt out of dynamic pricing. I think Ed Sheeran has done it, and The Cure, and many more.”
Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton pegged prices to just £35 for his upcoming sell-out UK arena tour despite being told by promoters to charge more.
Speaking before the Oasis reunion was announced, Heaton said: “There are some established bands who were just really, really taking the p***. Hopefully, ill-advised.”
Heaton has had two No1 singles, five chart-topping albums and his performance with fellow former Housemartin bandmate Norman Cook – aka Fatboy Slim – at Glastonbury in June was one of the highlights of the festival.
Paul resisted calls to increase ticket prices, saying he wanted fans to be “able to afford to buy a drink”.
“In the area where I’m living rising prices were hitting quite hard. And I just said, ‘Well, no, I want to keep it as cheap as it is’,” he said.
Despite such low fixed ticket prices Heaton said he would still make a “five or six-figure” profit from his tour.
(Image: Getty Images)
Oasis had not responded to a request for comment on whether the band would consider refunding fans’ price surge costs on Monday (September 2). Ticketmaster had also not commented.
But the company has said previously dynamic pricing was introduced “to give fans fair and safe access to the best tickets while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true market value”.
It said it does not set ticket prices and the decision to go dynamic was down to the promoters and artist. But Ticketmaster is owned by Live Nation – the US concert giant which is co-promoter of the Oasis tour.
Oasis tickets were already offered on resale websites for prices of up to £14,104 last night.
Michael Rapino, the boss of Live Nation which is the biggest seller of concert and sporting tickets in the world valued at £17billion, recently announced the company was seeking to scale up dynamic pricing.
“Outside of the US we’re just rolling this out around the world. So that’s the great growth opportunity, obviously,” he told investors.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
