Oasis may have told listeners to not "look back in anger" in a hit song, but fans of the band are doing just that after reporting problems with concert giant Ticketmaster.
The British rockers, known for hits like “Wonderwall,” “Champagne Supernova" and, yes, "Don't Look Back in Anger," announced in August that they would reunite for a tour for the first time in 15 years.
But some Oasis fans say when they tried to purchase tickets to concerts scheduled for next year in the U.K. and Ireland over the weekend, Ticketmaster let them down.
Outraged fans have taken to social media where they report experiencing extensive wait times, system glitches and head-spinning surges in ticket prices for the concert dates.
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On Aug. 31, British journalist Faye White posted a time-lapsed video on TikTok to document her experience when she tried to purchase Oasis concerts.
“I’ve been in the line now for an hour and a half and there’s still 14,000 people ahead of me,” White said at one point. Later, White said Ticketmaster offered her three tickets at prices equal to between $555 and $660 per ticket.
“I just think it’s too much,” White said, adding, “So it’s the end of the road for me.”
British YouTube star Paul Wood posted a nearly seven-minute rant on TikTok and Instagram to express his frustration with Ticketmaster after he said he unsuccessfully tried to secure Oasis tickets for nine hours.
“Where do we start with Ticketmaster? The fact that your systems can’t handle this is an absolute joke. We’re in 2024, people. And your systems can’t handle the traffic. Disgrace," Wood said in a video.
British television host Dan Walker posted on X about his own frustrations when he tried to purchase Oasis tickets, writing, “There has got to be a fairer, simpler, more efficient way of selling tickets that isn’t so open to touts, scammers, resellers & bots.”
“In the queue, out of the queue, refresh / don’t refresh, wait in line, back of the line, accused of being a bot… timed out,” Walker said.
A message on Ticketmaster UK’s website stated the ticket distribution company doesn’t set prices for concert tickets. “Promoters and artists set ticket prices. Prices can be either fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labeled as ‘Platinum’ or ‘In Demand,’” the message states.
Official "Platinum" tickets are not resale tickets, rather the price is adjusted based on supply and demand, "similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold," according to a blog post on Ticketmaster's website.
While Oasis didn't directly address the issues fans faced when they tried to purchase tickets to its concerts over the weekend, the band repeatedly warned fans on X to be wary of counterfeit and void tickets. "Tickets can ONLY be resold, at face value, via @TicketmasterUK and @Twickets," read one of band's messages.
NBC News reached out to Ticketmaster and Live Nation for comment but didn’t hear back at the time of publication.
It's a story familiar to Taylor Swift fans who faced similar issues when they tried to purchase tickets to the “Eras Tour” from Ticketmaster.
In November 2022, Ticketmaster bungled a presale rollout for Swift's "verified" fans who applied for a code to early ticket access. Many applicants never received a code or were waitlisted for one.
On Nov. 15, 2022, the day the presale began, Ticketmaster.com crashed, leaving those lucky enough to receive a code waiting in online queues for hours.
The same day, Ticketmaster issued a statement addressing the glitches, saying there has been “historically unprecedented demand” for tickets to Swift's concerts.
Another presale for Capital One card holders was marred by similar problems, prompting Ticketmaster to cancel a ticket sale to the general public.
Swift herself responded to the fiasco in a lengthy message on social media, saying the situation "really pisses me off."
"It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,” Swift said Nov. 18, 2022, on her Instagram story. “It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse."
Swift went on to say that she was "trying to figure out" what exactly had gone wrong on Ticketmaster's end.
"I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could," she told fans.
Ticketmaster followed up by issuing an apology to Swift's fans for their "terrible experience." In a statement on its website, the company explained that not only did a “record number of fans” seek tickets for Swift's concert tour, the company was also besieged by a "staggering number of bot attacks" as well.
Some U.S. lawmakers and state authorities took note of the brouhaha at the time and criticized Ticketmaster, alleging it had a monopoly over the distribution and sale of concert tickets.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, told Ticketmaster in an open letter that she had "serious concerns about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful impact on consumers.”
“Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services,” wrote Klobuchar. “That can result in the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones that pay the price.”
Meanwhile, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced plans to launch an anti-trust probe into Ticketmaster, Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV reported.
“There is an incentive there for the company to profit twice off the sale of these ticket,” Skrmetti said, according to WSMV. “I am not saying it happened, but we are going to make absolutely sure it didn’t.”
In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice, joined by 30 state and district attorneys general, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation for "monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry."
The lawsuit "seeks to restore competition in the live concert industry, provide better choices at lower prices for fans, and open venue doors for working musicians and other performance artists."
Live Nation's Executive Vice President for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Dan Wall wrote in a lengthy blog post on the company's website that the case "misleads the public into thinking that ticket prices will be lower if something is done about Live Nation and Ticketmaster."
"This lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster won’t reduce ticket prices or service fees," Wall said.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
