Festival boss defends Noel and Liam Gallagher after Oasis ticket price scandal

John Giddings, the Isle of Wight Festival chief, has stepped up to defend Oasis against the backlash surrounding their reunion gig ticketing fiasco.

The 'Supersonic' rockers were criticized over "dynamic pricing" which saw ardent fans forking out substantial sums to see the band reunite after 16 years. Giddings highlighted at Experience 25 a celebration of 25 years of the iconic festival that the costs involved in staging a live show are significant.

As reported by The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column, John remarked: "I think that they expected a big demand, I don't think they expected more than 10 million people to apply for over a million tickets." He further explained the often overlooked aspects of pricing, "What people don't realise, what the general public don't appreciate, is that within a ticket price 20 per cent of it goes to the government in VAT before you begin."

With the challenges the entertainment industry faces, Giddings pointed out, "It's ten times more expensive to put on shows since Covid, since Brexit, since all of that, and artists want to present a show. The back screen, the fireworks and everything going off with it."

Demonstrating a level-headed view on audience demands, he added, "That's what audiences want because we can see by the number of tickets they're buying. People vote with their feet if they don't want to come then we're all dead in the water." Despite the outrage from fans over Ticketmaster's "dynamic pricing," Liam Gallagher quipped through the tensions, joking about his mother Peggy Gallagher's struggle to snap up a ticket herself.

A fan on social media platform X quizzed Liam about Peggy's thoughts on the Oasis reunion, to which he responded: "She's gutted she couldn't get a ticket." The 51 year old rocker also quipped that he and his brother Noel, 57, will be making their comeback with the notorious bad attitude they were famed for in the '90s. His post read: "OASIS are back your welcome and I hear there ATTITUDE STINKS good to know something's never change LF****** x. (sic)".

The sale of the first wave of Oasis tickets sparked controversary due to Ticketmaster operating dymnanic pricing and prompted the Government and the UK’s competition watchdog to pledge they will look at the use of dynamic pricing. Ticketmaster previously said this was down to the organiser of the sale, not its website.

A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster said earlier this month: "Ticketholders are strongly advised to resell their tickets through Ticketmaster or Twickets only. The tour has put this policy in place to cap ticket resale prices to combat price inflation and prevent ticket touting. Selling tickets on unauthorised resale platforms breaches the promoter’s terms and conditions and may result in those tickets being cancelled."

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