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Oasis Reunion Prices Skyrocket Due to Ticketmaster Price Rises
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Oasis Reunion Prices Skyrocket Due to Ticketmaster Price Rises

Oasis have gotten the band back together. But a lot has changed since they last sold concert tickets.

The “Wonderwall” singers announced this week that they would be embarking on a reunion tour of the United Kingdom. It will be the first time in more than 15 years that lead brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have played together. The tour will feature 17 dates in Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin, starting on July 4 next year.

Oasis, one of the most popular bands of the late 20th century, offered pre-sale tickets starting on Friday and quickly found themselves in a 21st-century quagmire: sky-high online prices.

Surge pricing allows companies that sell products online to increase prices as market demand increases. It all happens automatically and almost instantly.

While surge pricing is now commonplace—from trying to hail an Uber after an event to bowling alleys, restaurants, and even golf courses—users of these services all hate it. Now, Oasis fans do too.

Last weekend they complained that ticket prices on Ticketmaster had shot up after the group decided to add three extra dates.

“That feeling when you’ve queued for four hours and then you’re told the price of a ticket has gone from £148 to… £355??? Because they’re ‘in demand’,” wrote Helen Barnett on X. “How can this not be illegal?”

According to CBS, tickets for the tour are already selling on resale websites for up to $7,800. The band warned Saturday that fans can only officially resell tickets through Ticketmaster.

“Please note, Oasis Live ’25 tickets can only be resold at face value via @TicketmasterUK and @Twickets!” the statement read. “Tickets appearing on other secondary ticketing sites are either counterfeit or are being cancelled by the promoters.”

Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The company has not made a public statement about Oasis reunion ticket prices, but its website states that Ticketmaster does not set ticket prices.

“Promoters and artists set ticket prices. Prices can be fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labeled “Platinum” or “In Demand,” the website says.

The practice has sparked controversy over the past year. Ticket prices for Taylor Swift’s multibillion-dollar Eras Tour also soared on the platform, up to $5,500 for tickets that normally cost an average of $254.

Ticket prices on the platform rose so much during the Eras Tour that the Department of Justice took notice and eventually filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment.

A report from the American Economic Liberties Project last year found that 68 of the top 100 venues in the world are in the United States, and 53 of those arenas use Ticketmaster to sell tickets. That means a whopping 78% of the world’s top-grossing arenas use Ticketmaster.