Irish Oasis Fans Angry Over Standing Increased Ticket Prices

Fans are angry at ticket prices for Oasis’ much-awaited reunion tour at Croke Park, many are demanding an impartial investigation into Ticketmaster’s ‘exorbitant’ prices. The outrage is mainly over the “in demand” ticket prices where some standing tickets were being advertised for as high as €415 while the usual price was €176. 75.

People could not wait to attend the band’s first tour after their separation in 2009 and therefore two shows in Dublin were sold out. Once, there were over 800 000 fans who were ready to buy just a ticket to see Oasis, which means that even playing ten concerts in Croke Park would not be enough for the fans.

This only led fans encountering error messages; getting eliminated from ticket queues; and even encountering other queues to be in other ticket selling queues. As they watched ticket prices rise to new highs many were left disappointed and demoralised.

This was the case of Ticketmaster who famously introduced a filtering mechanism that categorised some tickets as “In demand” an option that would see the company jack up the price of some standing tickets to twice the normal rate. Other ‘platinum’ tickets which ranged between €365 and €490 each fanned the fire further.

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Other Types of tickets include the standard seated and Standing tickets which were sold above €170 and the fan packages that were available ranging from €250 to €450 excluding fees. The public however, was especially vexed by extremely steep costs for basic standing tickets as some claimed that it takes advantage of the hard-core of fans.

Regina Doherty, a Fine Gael MEP for Dublin, has been very vocal in her desire to have the CCPC probe Ticketmaster.

She highlighted the discrepancy between initially advertised prices and what fans were eventually charged. “When ticket prices were advertised earlier this week, standing tickets in Croke Park were €86.50 plus booking fees, but when many people eventually got through the online queue this morning, they were faced with the exact same ticket at a price of €415.50,” Ms. Doherty said. “That’s not transparent advertising and certainly not fair to consumers.”

Ms. Doherty further emphasised the need for regulatory oversight, pointing out that the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) includes provisions to protect consumers from unfair practices by large digital platforms.

She argued that Ticketmaster’s “in-demand” pricing structure could potentially violate these regulations, given its apparent lack of transparency. “Every ticket for these gigs was always going to be ‘in demand,’ so slapping an extra label and €300 on some standing tickets is just extortionate,” she added.

Ms. Doherty stated that there is sufficient evidence to warrant a deeper investigation into the pricing and advertising practices of major events. She also plans to write to the European Commission to request an examination of Ticketmaster’s actions at an EU level.

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Responding to the backlash, Ticketmaster reiterated that pricing is determined by promoters and artists, and that “platinum” or “in demand” tickets are market-based. According to Ticketmaster, these prices reflect supply and demand dynamics rather than additional services or perks for buyers, which has led to accusations of price gouging.

The Consumers’ Association of Ireland chair Michael Kilcoyne said that people’s confusion or eagerness is what businesses exploit. “There is so much demand that advantage has been taken from people’s support,” he said, pointing out that without the intervention of regulatory bodies such conduct in billing is likely to persist. Using such songs, Kilcoyne wanted fans to question what they are paying for and demand that politicians sort these problems out.

Ticket pricing is expected to emerge as a topic of discussion during the next election with those criticising event organisers for exploiting fans expected to lobby for better consumer protection measures to be put in place.