Oasis fans attending the band’s homecoming shows in Manchester have expressed anger that they have to enter a ballot to determine their proximity to the stage at Heaton Park.
Ticketmaster emailed ticket holders passing on information from the event organisers, saying that a safety advisory group had divided the all-standing concert into general admission and front standing, with distinct tickets, to “ensure fan safety and improve the fan experience while entering the site”.
Fans seeking a spot at the front must opt in to the ballot by noon today. Ticketmaster said that – in the highly likely event – that opt-in requests outnumber availability, tickets will be allocated at random. Opting in applies to entire ticket orders, not individual tickets within a single order.
Posting on X, many fans were irritated by the news, which comes just shy of a month before the tour begins in Cardiff on 4 July. The five concerts in Manchester will be between 11 and 20 July.
VIP ticket holders also sought information on whether they would automatically be allocated a place in the front section. The Guardian has contacted representatives for Oasis for comment.
Accused by one fan this week of reuniting just for money, Liam Gallagher replied: “It’s for many reasons money way down the list”.
Oasis also appear to have disappointed erstwhile drummer Zak Starkey, recently let go twice by the Who, who told BBC Breakfast he was “gutted” that the band had chosen Joey Waronker – who performed on last year’s collaborative album by Liam Gallagher and John Squire – for the tour. The rest of the lineup is yet to be officially announced.
British economists, meanwhile, are unlikely to complain about the looming tour, the band’s first dates since splitting 16 years ago. Fans are expected to spend more than £1bn on tickets, accommodation, food, drink, outfits and merchandise, with the gigs expected to be the most popular and profitable in British history.
Wonderwallets, part of the Barclays Consumer Spend report, estimated that the 1.4 million fans attending the show would spend more than £766 per person, generating £1.06bn. The sums exceed Barclays’ estimate for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour last year – which came in at £997m – but Oasis are playing two more shows than Swift did.
