Some lucky Oasis fans will have an early chance on Friday evening to get tickets for the group's long-awaited reunion tour, which is being billed as the "big event of 2025".
The band announced their comeback this week to much fanfare, 15 years after they broke up when lead guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher said he could no longer work with frontman and brother Liam after a number of public spats.
Oasis opened a pre-sale ballot to those who can answer a question about the band, before tickets go on general release at 8am in Ireland and 9am in Britain on Saturday.
Those who have been successful in the ballot have been told that the pre-sale will take place between 7pm and 10pm on Friday.
Fans have also been advised to be vigilant of scams.
All Ticket Ballot codes have now been sent out to fans.
Please do NOT buy a code or transfer them to someone else. Codes ONLY work with the registered email address.
If you didn't get a code to access the pre-sale, you can join the general sale tomorrow morning.Advertisement— Oasis (@oasis) August 30, 2024
Mark Sutherland, a music business consultant and journalist, said the audience was likely to be made up of people who had the "best years of their lives soundtracked" by Oasis, and younger fans who know a few hits and want to experience them live.
Harry Kind from consumer group Which? said Oasis and ticket sellers had put measures in place to deter people seeking to profit from the clamour for tickets, such as the ballot.
Oasis originally announced 14 shows in Dublin, Cardiff, Manchester, where the group formed in 1991, London, Edinburgh, but on Thursday added three dates after "unprecedented demand".
Fans are not just trying to get into the shows.
Cheap hotel rooms appear to have been replaced by pricier options on travel sites in cities like Manchester and some people reported on social media that hotels had sought to cancel bookings they had made prior to the tour dates being announced, in a bid to relist them at a higher price.
The gigs are expected to provide a multi-million boost for Ireland and Britain's hospitality sectors and economies.
"There will be huge sums of money spent on merchandise, travel, hotels, bars and restaurants, as well as creating jobs which are all linked directly to these gigs," said Paul Haywood-Schiefer, senior manager at tax advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.
Although Oasis, one of the biggest British bands of recent decades, said plans were underway to go to other continents, fans were likely to fly in from abroad for the shows.
"If you want to see Oasis, really the best place to do it is here in the UK where they mean so much," Sutherland said.
