Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy criticises “dynamic pricing” after Oasis fans pay premium for tickets

Newly appointed Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called for a review into the use of “dynamic pricing” by ticket websites after some Oasis fans paid a premium for tickets to the band’s 2025 reunion tour on Ticketmaster.

Tickets to the Oasis Live ’25 tour, which will see the Gallagher brothers perform together for the first time in 16 years and is expected to gross around £400 million, sold out over the weekend.

Some fans claim to have paid more than double the original stated price of £135, with others paying more than £350 per ticket despite them being listed at a much lower face value, the BBC reports.

Fans also complained over long ticket queues, taking to Twitter to express their disappointment: “Time to look back in anger” said one user, while another compared Ticketmaster to ticket touters.

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Price surges are a result of Ticketmaster’s "dynamic pricing" model, where cost per ticket rises in line with demand. The platform's website states: “This is similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold".

Lisa Nandy has expressed her contempt for the practice and vowed to include it in a planned government review into secondary ticket sales.

“After the incredible news of Oasis’s return, it’s depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live,” she said on Sunday, September 1.

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“This government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of music. So we will include issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queueing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales.”

Labour had promised to introduce “new consumer protections” on ticket resales in its manifesto earlier this year. The consultation was planned to start in Autumn.

Ticketmaster has previously been criticised for its dynamic pricing model, with lead singer of The Cure, Robert Smith, saying he was “sickened” by “unduly high” prices for his band’s US tour in 2023, later convincing the platform to issue small refunds to verified ticket buyers.

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While Oasis has not yet commented on the increased cost of tickets on Ticketmaster, they did clap back at “people attempting to sell tickets on the secondary market”, warning that “tickets sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the promoters.”

The Culture Secretary promises that if the government works “with artists, industry and fans, we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices.”

Oasis will play 17 dates across the UK between July and August of next year.

Meena Sears is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram