When the first Oasis reunion tour was announced in 2025, there was a furore about ticket costs, not least the band’s apparent willingness to embrace so called dynamic pricing. In retrospect, it must have been a particularly minor furore because fans lapped up the tickets within seconds of them going on sale. If fans were being ripped off – and I don’t think they were – it didn’t stop them buying tickets. Some people I know who went to see the band would happily have paid twice as much. And why? Because there was no pretence by the band that the tour was anything other than a cash-grab.
To call it a cash-grab is not me having a pop. In fact, I believe they deserve great credit for their honesty, seriously. Right from the start, Oasis made it clear that there would be no new music, which meant that it would be a greatest hits show. Given that the majority of fans, though by no means all, would be of a certain age, which would usually be in their late fifties to early sixties, the whole point of going would be to hear the hits again. And that is exactly what they got every single night, with the band playing the exact same 23 song playlist. Next year’s Oasis tour, which will be even bigger, will be no different, with Noel Gallagher again confirming that there will be no new music.
So far, 41 dates have been announced and I fully expect the tour to be expanded “due to astonishing public demand” because that is how these things work. Again, good luck to the band. If people are willing to pay between £71.50 and £266.60 for a single ticket, then isn’t everyone happy? No one is forcing people to attend the shows, they have a choice, just as I have the choice as to whether I shell out a whopping £12.50 to see one of my new favourite bands, Ebbb, when they play the Exchange in Bristol in November. The discrepancy in prices is obvious: Oasis are one of the biggest bands in the world, no one apart from a few anoraks like me has heard of Ebbb. Oasis can charge £266.60 for a standing ticket in a football stadium, Ebbb can sell their tickets for a tiny venue because if they charge anymore no one will turn up. It’s how the world works in our capitalist society.
There is some debate as to what Oasis is these days. I’m not sure it matters very much, but if push came to shove, I would refer to them as a heritage act rather than a working band. While they are certainly working hard on stage, they are not working in the studio. There are huge numbers of bands who are basically heritage acts, from The Eagles whose never-ending farewell tour goes on and on, playing the hits from the 1970s, in the main, to acts like Showaddywaddy. Sometimes, I am in that number of heritage band fans, as I hope to be in 2027 when Yacht Rock legends Toto play their 50th anniversary tour, performing nothing but the hits. Toto tickets won’t be cheap either but frankly I don’t care. It will be my choice as to whether I go along or not. Steve Lukather and the chaps will not be twisting my arm. If I am going to be ripped off, as some might say (I don’t), then so be it.
Another thing is this. There is no money to be made by selling albums or streaming, or licensed theft as I call it. Playing live shows is the only guaranteed money maker for acts these days, some to rack up enormous sums and others to keep the wolf from the door. If I can afford tickets, as well as hard copies of music and merch, I’ll pay it. If I think an act is charging too much, I won’t bother.
Good luck to the Gallagher brothers, I say. They spoke to a generation that came after mine and while few of Noel Gallagher’s lyrics make any sense, the music and the shtick attracted the adoration of millions. And if those same millions still want to hear the band cranking out Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger, who am I to criticise?
