Oasis is back. The band’s warring brothers, Liam and Noel Gallagher, have patched up their differences nearly 15 years after a backstage brawl put an end to one of the most iconic bands of the 1990s.
In what is expected to be the biggest music event of 2025, Oasis announced a wave of shows across the U.K. and Ireland, and a host of fans are bracing for a tussle for tickets when they go live on Saturday morning.
The presale, which closes at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, has been flooded with an “extremely high volume of entries,” the band’s website said after it launched a ballot for tickets.
That wave of prospective early buyers had a few hoops to jump through before they could sign up, including being quizzed on their Oasis fandom.
Oasis called out ticket resellers, known as “touts,” in their presale message and had questions to try and deter them and perhaps even casual concertgoers.
Fans were asked how many times they had seen the band, which last took to the stage at the V Festival in 2009, though sellers confirmed this wouldn’t affect respondents’ chances on the ballot.
However, the band was also keen to test fans’ trivia. A multiple-choice question asked buyers to name the group’s original drummer.
A quick Google search in a separate tab can quickly enlighten unaware fans (it’s Tony McCarroll, by the way). But the line of questioning posed before allowing entry to the ballot leans into a debate that has swirled online since Oasis announced its reunion: Should only “real” fans be allowed to buy a ticket?
Generational debate stews on
Since Oasis broke up nearly 15 years ago, several imitators of the iconic Britpop era have come to the fore to satisfy fans looking for their ’90s music fix. Liam and Noel have embarked on their own projects, typically playing famous Oasis songs during their sets.
Oasis’s Britpop rival, Blur, has largely stayed intact this century and played to a sold-out crowd at Wembley last year.
Catfish and the Bottlemen, one of the bands inspired by Oasis, will likely be cursing their luck after booking a massive gig at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the same night Oasis are due to perform one of their shows across the city in Wembley.
However, Oasis has also ingratiated itself with a new wave of younger fans, who have been embracing the band’s music and 1990s culture more broadly since they split up in 2009.
These fans have helped stoke a debate on social media about who deserves tickets for their reunion.
Older Gen X fans, who may have watched the band during their initial rise when they routinely sold out arenas and played to 500,000 people at Knebworth in 1996, have taken issue with the idea that they may lose out at the expense of younger fans.
Imagine waiting 15 years for Oasis to reform only to lose out on tickets to Chloe, 21 from Stockport who just wants to hear Wonderwall live. #oasisreunion
— Billy Corcoran (@BillyCorcoran) August 26, 2024
The view has largely been derided online, with others arguing those who have never had the chance to see Oasis perform ought to be the first.
Despite the bickering, both groups are aligned on who their main enemy is: ticket touts.
Resellers in the spotlight
There is a huge expectation that Oasis tickets will become the latest to flood resale sites, which have become a scourge of the modern gig-going experience.
Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have been major artists in recent years to have their tickets appear on resale sites like Viagogo and StubHub for thousands of dollars.
Last year, Viagogo global MD Cris Miller defended the model, which has been heavily criticized within and outside the industry.
“Buyers make their own decisions,” Miller said. “If they see a ticket up there that’s out of their price range or their comfort zone, don’t buy it.”
Hoteliers in the cities hosting Oasis concerts are also being criticized for reportedly canceling previous reservations on nights of the concerts before relisting them at a massive premium.
