Ticketmaster has started canceling certain tickets for Oasis’ reunion tour, claiming they were purchased using automated bots.
Several ticket holders reported receiving emails from Ticketmaster on Friday (February 7), stating their purchases had been tagged as bot-generated and were subsequently canceled, Sky News reported.
The affected concerts include shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park and London’s Wembley Stadium, part of the Oasis Live ’25 tour. The tour marks the band’s first series of performances since 2009.
“To say that we’re bots is totally out of order for Ticketmaster because we tried all day to get the tickets,” said one fan from Cumbria, as quoted by The Guardian. The fan said she had secured four tickets for the Manchester show at £150 ($186) each.
The impact extends beyond the UK. A Spanish fan who had invested over £3,000 ($3,700) in tickets, flights, and accommodation for herself and family members to attend the Wembley Stadium concert on August 3, said, “At first we thought this email was fake or a spam email, but no it was true,” expressing her loss of trust in what she considered an official ticket vendor, Sky News reported.
Ticketmaster has responded to the controversy by providing affected customers with a form to contest the cancellations.
“Anyone who has been contacted and believes a refund was made in error has been sent a form to fill in for the tour’s promoters to review,” a spokesperson for Ticketmaster was quoted by Sky News as saying.
The incident comes amid an ongoing investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into Ticketmaster’s handling of Oasis ticket sales. The investigation, launched in September, focuses particularly on the company’s dynamic pricing system, which reportedly saw standard ticket prices surge from £150 to £355 ($440).
The reunion tour, featuring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, is scheduled to begin on July 4 in Cardiff, followed by 16 additional dates across the UK and Ireland. The band will then continue their tour internationally, with shows planned in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Australia.
During an appearance at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles in October, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino revealed that Ticketmaster was hit by “multi billions” of bots during the Oasis ticket sale.
“They’re a professional, $12 billion business trying to capture seats. So it’s an arms race with us trying to stop them, not let them in the door, not let them hold the tickets,” Rapino said at the time.
To address this, Ticketmaster has put in place measures to stop bots, including, among other things, a requirement for ticket buyers to sign up in advance of a ticket on-sale.
Subsequently, both Ticketmaster and See Tickets announced plans to cancel thousands of tickets listed on unauthorized websites. However, the current cancellations specifically target purchases allegedly made using automated systems, affecting fans who claim to have bought their tickets through legitimate means.
For many fans, the cancellations represents more than just financial loss. “Our heads have been pretty battered these past 24 hours… It’s a band you’ll never experience or see again and it’s been on my bucket list for years,” the fan from Cumbria told PA. “It just feels like my dreams have been completely crushed.”
Ticketmaster has published an Oasis Refunds FAQ page, which states, “Ticketmaster and See Tickets will, from 7th February, start the process of refunding tickets that are believed to have broken the terms and conditions put in place for the tour.”
“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against the reselling of tickets through unauthorized secondary ticketing companies at grossly inflated prices for huge profit,” Ticketmaster said.
“Any tickets that have been identified to have been purchased by bots will be refunded, as this violates the tour’s terms and conditions. Barcodes on these refunded tickets will be void and will not allow entry to the event.”
The timing of the news comes as a long-awaited bill to require ticket sellers to display the final price of a ticket is moving to a full vote in the US Senate. The Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee passed the Transparency in Charges for Key Events Ticketing (TICKET) Act last week, meaning it will now go to a full vote on the Senate floor.
The bill also instructs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review enforcement of the 2016 BOTS Act, a law that was supposed to eliminate bots from buying tickets out from under consumers but seems to have had little effect.
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