Oasis Fans Face Crashes, Bots and Dynamic Pricing as Reunion Tickets Go On Sale

Tickets for the Oasis reunion shows in the U.K. went on sale to the public Saturday and, as expected given previous in-demand events, things did not go smoothly for many fans.

Following a pre-sale Friday and a stern warning about reselling tickets on the secondary market, the majority of tickets for the reunion gigs went on sale Saturday morning, with a reported over one million people queuing up just to purchase tickets to the London concerts at Wembley Stadium alone.

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However, many fans turned to social media with their harrowing ticket-buying experience, from reported “crashes” on the Ticketmaster site to people saying the site accused them of being “bots,” and thus having their purchases flagged and canceled.

Both “Error 503” — a page where some fans were routed while attempting to purchase tickets — and “Shambles” were trending topics in the U.K. in the hours after tickets went on sale, the Independent wrote.

British politician Zarah Sultana, an MP for the Labour Party, was among those whose purchases were “suspended” due to alleged bot-like behavior.

“As expected Oasis is incredibly popular. We’re processing orders as quickly as possible so please keep your place in line,” Ticketmaster said in a message to fans.

“Fans are advised to hold their place in line, make sure they’re only using one tab, clear cookies, and ensure they aren’t using any VPN software on their device.”

Despite the difficulties and the hours-long queue, Ticketmaster alerted fans on Saturday, “Tickets for Oasis are still available, but inventory is now limited and not all ticket prices are available.”

It’s the latter sentence that also inflamed fans: Although general admission ticket prices were listed pre-sale for ￡150, on Saturday morning as the GA tickets were snatched up, a new ticket-buying option appeared: “In Demand Standing,” which cost upwards of ￡400.

Fans soon noticed that there was no difference between the general admission tickets and the “In Demand Standing” ticket other than the cost, one that Ticketmaster wrote was “dynamically priced.” “Based on demand the prices on these tickets may change,” they added.

The “In Demand Standing” tickets even caused fans to put a Community Note on Oasis’ tweet about tickets: “Oasis published ticket prices which put Standing tickets in most of their venues at ~￡150. Thats face value. Oasis have allowed for Ticketmaster to sell via dynamic pricing which has those exact same ￡150 face value tickets listed for ￡350+.”

Still, the dynamically priced tickets are going for way less than the Oasis tickets that have so far appeared on the secondary market. Despite warnings that tickets on those sites will be canceled, hundreds of tickets have been listed on secondary sites like Viagogo, which issued a statement Saturday claiming that “Resale is legal in the UK.” “Fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets,” a Viagogo director told the BBC. “Demand will be at its peak when tickets hit the on-sale but it’s not a normal reflection of what tickets can and will go for.”

However, Oasis and Ticketmaster reiterated Saturday, “Tickets appearing on other secondary ticketing sites are either counterfeit or will be cancelled by the promoters.”

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