Oasis tickets cancelled over suspected bot use

The controversy over Oasis’ UK reunion shows has taken another twist after a number of customers complained of having their tickets cancelled by Ticketmaster and See Tickets after being identified as bots.

The ticket agents began emailing and refunding those believed to have broken the terms and conditions imposed for the 2025 stadium run last Friday (7 February), only for several fans to claim they bought their tickets legitimately.

An appeals process is in place for those who feel they have been wrongfully targeted.

“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,” says a Ticketmaster spokesperson.

Promoters Live Nation and SJM said last October they would cancel up to 50,000 tickets deemed to have breached the rules in an effort to clamp down on unofficial resale sites.

“All ticket sales data will be manually forensically examined and any use of bots, multiple identities, false identities, or other fraudulent means of acquiring tickets may be reported,” read the T&Cs.

“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against the reselling of tickets through unauthorised secondary ticketing companies”

IQ understands that tickets will only be cancelled if the promoter and band management are completely convinced that the buyer is not a genuine customer, with multiple layers of checks before people were contacted. Internally, there is confidence the crackdown has been carried out correctly.

“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against the reselling of tickets through unauthorised secondary ticketing companies at grossly inflated prices for huge profit,” says a post on Ticketmaster and See Tickets’ websites. “The examination of ticket sales is ongoing and the results will be passed to relevant law enforcement once complete where appropriate.

“Refunded tickets will be made available again at face value in due course from the official ticket agent Ticketmaster.”

It continues: “Expert Abuse and Fraud teams have reviewed all sales and identified any made by bots. We cannot go into more detail, as we do not want bot-using touts to have any further information on the process.”

Oasis Live ’25 was the biggest concert launch ever seen in the UK and Ireland when it went on sale last August as more than 10 million fans from 158 countries attempted to buy the 1.4 million tickets available for the group’s first shows since 2009. The on-sale became infamously marred by a dynamic ticketing row that triggered multiple inquiries in the UK and Ireland.

Strict anti-touting measures were put in place in a bid to ensure tickets are resold for no more than face value, with Twickets selected as the tour’s official ticket resale platform.

However, despite the use of unauthorised resellers being against the ticket terms and conditions, there has been no word from the tour as to whether they will seek to cancel all tickets currently listed on secondary sites, many at inflated prices.

In a previous high-profile case, organisers of Ed Sheeran’s 2018 ÷ Tour stadium run cancelled around 10,000 tickets after Viagogo refused a request from Sheeran’s team not to list the tickets for resale.

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