Oasis fans outraged over dynamic ticket pricing

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When Oasis announced a reunion tour after more than a decade of feuding, the band’s fans were delighted. But after waiting online for hours, many of them were outraged to discover that ticket prices had soared while they were in line – some more than doubling from their originally advertised price.

Now the British government is looking into the practice of dynamic pricing, a model that allows ticket sellers to adjust prices according to real-time demand. Some Oasis tickets were first listed at around $180, but when fans were finally able to purchase them, they were priced at more than $460, according to the BBC.

Lisa Nandy, the British culture secretary, said that it was “deeply depressing” for fans to have spent hours queuing online for the “event of a lifetime, that they thought may never happen,” only for many to discover that they could not afford the tickets.

“There is an overhaul needed of the regulations around ticketing. We’ve already announced that this autumn we’ll be consulting on secondary ticketing and how to deal with ticket touts, and as part of that we’ll look at dynamic pricing, and, in particular, transparency around it,” Nandy said in a clip shared Monday by British media.

“Many of those Oasis fans had no idea … that a dynamic pricing model was in use. They thought that they were going to pay one price for a ticket, only to … find that they were paying hundreds of pounds more,” she said.

Oasis, known for hits such as “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” announced its return last month, ending a 15-year hiatus. On Friday, the band started selling tickets for performances in Ireland and the United Kingdom next year, but tickets had sold out by Saturday afternoon local time, according to the band’s official X account.

On social media, fans called out ticket sites and directed some of their anger at Oasis, which has yet to make a statement on the pricing issue. Ticketmaster, one of the vendors for Oasis tickets, could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

Dynamic pricing is considered legal so long as businesses do not violate price transparency and antitrust laws. The practice is used by airlines, hotels and ride-sharing apps, among others.