How much would you spend to watch your favourite band play live?
It’s a question worth giving some thought to as new figures released this week reveal just how far some music lovers have gone to secure their spot at Oasis’ huge reunion gigs this summer.
The Burnage brothers confirmed last August that they would reunite after a 16-year hiatus for Oasis Live '25. They'll play a series of huge stadium and outdoor shows in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Dublin and Edinburgh, before embarking on a run of shows across the globe.
Research by Wonderwallets, part of the Barclays Consumer Spend report, revealed that fans of the Manchester-born band are expected to shell out more than £1bn of the reunion tour including tickets, travel, accommodation and merchandise.
Anticipated to be some of the most popular and profitable run of gigs in British history - even beating out the £997m that Barclays estimated would be spent on the UK leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour 2024 - when broken down it works out at roughly £766 per Oasis gig goer.
The same research revealed that 64 per cent of concert goers spent more than they had planned or expected but thought it was worth the cost, with some justifying the splurge as a gift, or sentimental purchase.
A quarter even said they would have spent more to bag better seats or a VIP package.
Cast your mind back to last summer though and you may well be inclined to look back with a bit of anger at the ticket debacle that somewhat overshadowed the tour announcement.
It wasn’t so much the hoops jumped through to get into the ballot or even the spinning wheel of doom you were greeted with when trying to get through the checkout screen, but the prices.
The words ‘dynamic pricing’ certainly send a shiver down my spine when I think about how fans were charged significantly higher prices than initially expected.
Standing tickets previously advertised at £148.50 jumped to over £350 causing Oasis fans to hit out at ticketing sites and forced the Gallaghers to issue a statement clarifying that they leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management.
Nonetheless, it sparked a review by the UK's competition watchdog and the European Commission announced it would be investigating dynamic pricing following the saga.
So fast-forward to this week, and the new sums predicting a spend of almost £800 per gig-goer to attend these historic gigs.
What can they expect? Well, going off of Liam Gallagher's constant stream of social media updates it will, of course, be 'biblical’ and judging by rehearsals, which the frontman has described as ‘epic’, we’re on track for something quite special.
Ahead of Liam and Noel heading out onto stage for the first time since the band split in 2009, special guests and friends of the band, Richard Ashcroft, Cage the Elephant and Cast will also grace the stage too.
I’ve thought long and hard about the shows this summer. In fact, I’ve lost sleep over it because of the sheer scale and expectation that surrounds them.
Does that make it worth splashing out hundreds, if not thousands of pounds though?
It’s a tricky one.
For some people, their disposable income, or whatever they can scrape together gets spent on a summer holiday. For others, it’s a new car, or redecorating.
For myself, and many others, it's about experiences - specifically going to gigs.
Speaking to diehard Bruce Springsteen fans outside Co-op Live last week reminded me of a couple of things.
The first is that music fandom seemingly knows no bounds. These people stood in line for days in one of the most well-organised, roll-call style queues I’ve ever seen.
Some have followed him across the globe and attended hundreds of shows. Others have The Boss’ handwriting permanently etched on their forearm.
The second is that, for these people, and I’m sure many Oasis fans, there is no price you can put on the opportunity to see your favourite act of all time play live.
I stand by previous concerns I’ve raised about the rapidly accelerating price of gig tickets and entertainment experiences here in the UK. The current system is pricing out real fans.
Some people who managed to get tickets to Heaton Park may not be superfans but want to say they were there - and I get that, I just feel sorry for those who have followed the band all their lives and weren’t able to secure their spot.
That aside, there is something very special about seeing a band with so much history and cultural significance play live.
Their last gig took place in August 2009 and the now defunct V Festival. It was a set filled with hits, from 'Cigarettes & Alcohol’ and ‘Half The World Away’ to an acoustic cover of ‘Wonderwall’.
It's hard to say exactly what the gigs will be like - 16 years is a long time and both Noel and Liam have gone one to carve out very successful solo careers and their own induvial fan bases.
A staggering 1,380,000 people here in the UK will watch them play in stadiums, fields and parks this summer, and for fans new and old just the experience of being stood side-by-side with other diehard followers will be enough, and that's even before a single note has been played.
The great wait is almost over.
