Oasis reject dynamic ticket pricing for US concerts after UK chaos

Some standard tickets for band’s UK dates more than doubled from £148 to £355, prompting review of pricing model

Oasis have ruled out the use of dynamic ticket pricing for the band’s North America tour dates following fury in the UK.
The Britpop group, who announced their reunion in August, said that the controversial pricing model would not be used for shows in 2025 in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Oasis’s management said: “Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America.
“It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable.”
“But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans.
“We have made this decision for the North America tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently.”
The release of tickets this month in the UK prompted the Government and the competition watchdog to announce a review of dynamic pricing, where tickets become more expensive when competition to buy them is fierce.
Some standard tickets more than doubled from £148 to £355, in a situation blamed on “unprecedented demand”.
Ticketmaster has previously said that it does not set concert prices and its website states this is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.
The decision to ditch surge or “dynamic” pricing for the US tour has caused outrage in the UK, with campaigners for fair ticket prices raising concerns on behalf of British fans.
Stephen Lee, the president of the campaign group the Fair Ticketing Alliance, told the Telegraph: “It is deeply unfair. The UK customers were misled and not given all the information they needed to make an informed decision when purchasing.
“Now they are all out of pocket and see US customers reap the rewards.
“They have been the victims of this experiment, which has been used on thousands of events already.”
He added that reform to ticketing systems is needed to ensure transparency and guarantee fans a fair price for the product, stating:  “Basically, respect the fans and put them first.”
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Oasis’s first performance in North America will be at Rogers Stadium in Toronto on Aug 24 next year.
They will then head to the US for dates at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Aug 28, East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium on Aug 31 and Los Angeles’s Rose Ball Stadium on Sept 6, with the final date at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City on Sept 12.
Similar to the UK and Ireland tour, there will be a pre-ballot for fans hoping to gain access to the sale first, with fans being asked to confirm entry by Oct 1.
To enter, you are asked where you are based and a question about when Oasis last played in North America. The band’s most recent appearances were on their 2008-09 Dig Out Your Soul tour.Their first UK show will take place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on July 4.
A string of 19 UK and Ireland dates have all sold out, including two extra Wembley shows.
Tickets for Oasis’s North America dates will be on sale from Oct 4.