The China Mail - Fans struggle as tickets for Oasis reunion tour go on sale

The scramble for tickets follows the announcement Tuesday that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had ended their infamous 15-year feud and were reuniting the 1990s-founded band for the tour.

Tickets for 15 UK concerts next July and August -- kicking off what has been billed as a worldwide tour -- were expected to sell out within minutes of going on sale at 9:00 am (0800 GMT).

Two mid-August gigs in the Irish capital Dublin also went on sale an hour earlier.

But fans in both countries reported struggling to access tickets, with hundreds of thousands left in online queues for different dates and others unable to even access the websites selling them.

Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts' website, Gigs and Tours, faced issues even before the UK sale started, with an error message telling fans to "please bear with us" as the site failed to load.

Meanwhile Ticketmaster's UK and Irish websites seemed to be struggling as millions tried to access them, with some buyers unable to complete purchases even after finishing lengthy queues.

A Ticketmaster spokesperson said "millions of fans are accessing our site so have been placed in a queue" but insisted that it was "moving along" and the site had not crashed.

"Can we just go back to the old days of queuing outside the record shop or gig venue to buy tickets please?" said one exasperated fan on X.

- Feud over -

Some lucky fans snagged a small number of tickets for some of the concerts in a Friday evening pre-sale, after they won the chance in a heavily oversubscribed ballot.

But some of those tickets promptly appeared on resale sites at heavily inflated prices, some as high as £6,000 ($7,875).

The group behind hit songs including "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger" and "Champagne Supernova" will stage 17 gigs in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin.

The much-anticipated Tuesday announcement also promised concerts in "continents outside of Europe later next year".

Tickets for their UK events start at around £75 ($98), rising to around £150 for standing on the field in front of the stage.

The most expensive at London's Wembley stadium -- which include extras such as a pre-show party -- will cost buyers more than £500.

Formed in Manchester, northwest England, in 1991, Oasis helped create the Britpop era of that decade, enjoying a fierce rivalry with London band Blur.

The Gallagher brothers became notorious for their public fights, which came to a head at a 2009 Paris festival, when Liam broke one of Noel's guitars.

That was the last time they played together, although each has regularly performed the group's hits to sold-out crowds.

- 'Spark' -

The reunion tour will take place 30 years after Oasis's 1995 album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?", which received international critical and commercial acclaim.

It will kick off over two nights at the Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital Cardiff from July 4, 2025, followed a week later by five gigs at Heaton Park in their hometown, Manchester.

Oasis will then play Wembley -- on July 25, 26 and 30 as well as August 2 and 3 -- before three nights at Murrayfield Stadium in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, on August 8, 9 and 12.

Two more performances at Dublin's Croke Park in mid-August are scheduled.

The band has promised sets "full of wall-to-wall classics", showcasing the "charisma, spark and intensity that only comes when Liam and Noel Gallagher are on-stage together".

British hoteliers and pub owners are among those hoping for a boom in business, akin to the economic boost in numerous places prompted by Taylor Swift's recent tour.

Ticket sales, merchandise and possible film licensing could generate a £400 million profit, Matt Grimes, a music industry researcher at Birmingham City University, has estimated.

After accounting for expenses and paying their teams, the Gallagher brothers could come away with £50 million each, he told AFP.

F.Jackson--ThChM