Oasis reunion tickets: Fans face lengthy online queues

LONDON (AP) — Some Oasis fans celebrated like a champagne supernova, while others looked back in anger Saturday on Saturday as online ticket sites strained under demand for the band’s first shows for 15 years.

The Britpop-era behemoth led by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher is scheduled to play 17 gigs in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin starting July 4.

More than 1 million tickets went on sale Saturday morning, with prices starting at about 74 pounds (just under $100) and rising to a 506-pound ($666) package that includes a pre-show party and merchandise.

Some people attempting to get onto the handful of authorized sales sites, including Ticketmaster and Gigs and Tours, received error messages, while many others were informed they were in a lengthy queue.

Josh Jeffery, a videographer who lives near Edinburgh, spent hours moving up the online ticket queue, before “the whole site collapsed” at the last step.

“I’ve given up, my friends have given up,” said Jeffery, who first saw Oasis in Manchester as a teenager in 1996. “We just decided it’s too much hassle.

“As I was in the queue, I heard ‘Wonderwall’ blasting out from my neighbor’s house,” he added ruefully. “He’d obviously got tickets.”

Some fans managed to buy tickets through a presale lottery on Friday. Barista Isabelle Doyle said she was “over the moon” after snagging two seats for one of the band’s London shows.

“I’ve been a fan of Oasis for about 10 years now, literally since I was 11 years old,” the 21-year-old said. “Finally to be able to see them after they got me through as a teenager, it’s absolutely amazing and I’m so excited.”

Within hours, tickets began to be offered on resale websites for as much as 6,000 pounds ($7,800). Oasis issued a warning, saying tickets could only be resold at face value through authorized sites.

“Tickets appearing on other secondary ticketing sites are either counterfeit or will be cancelled by the promoters,” it said in a statement.

Megan Gordon, a 25-year-old fan from Manchester, said she was “fuming” after failing to get tickets on Saturday.

“I don’t really want to pay resale, but I will,” she said.

Formed in Manchester in 1991, Oasis was one of the