Today is gonna be the day Oasis confirmed it will play in Toronto as part of its much-hyped reunion tour.
The Britpop band known for timeless hits like Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger is adding five dates in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to the tour scheduled for summer 2025.
Toronto is the only Canadian date announced.
“America. Oasis is coming. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along,” Oasis said in a statement posted to social media Monday.
The band shocked fans by announcing a reunion tour last month, ending a 15-year hiatus and, presumably, the long-held feud between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher. But at the time that announcement, it only revealed dates in the U.K. and Ireland.
The new North American stadium dates scheduled for next summer are in Toronto on Aug. 24, Chicago on Aug. 28, New Jersey on Aug. 31, Los Angeles on Sept. 6 and Mexico City on Sept. 12. American rock band Cage the Elephant will open.
Famously feuding siblings Noel and Liam Gallagher are set to reunite Oasis and tour next summer after a 15-year hiatus. The announcement coincides with the 30th anniversary of their debut album Definitely Maybe.
The Toronto show is one of the first to be announced at the recently unveiled Rogers Stadium in Downsview Park. Entertainment giant Live Nation said last week it will build a temporary, open-air music venue with a capacity for some 50,000 people on the grounds of the former Downsview airport in north Toronto.
Oasis split in 2009 after many years of infighting, with Noel Gallagher officially leaving the band just before a performance at a festival near Paris. Even before the dissolution, the brothers had long had an antagonistic relationship and reportedly did not speak to each other for years after the breakup.
While the Gallagher brothers haven’t performed together since, both regularly perform Oasis songs at their solo gigs.
But now the brothers are preparing to reunite, with the band saying fans would experience “the spark and intensity” that occurs only when they appear on stage together.
No dynamic pricing for North American tickets: management
The initial 17-date run sold out within 10 hours as fans eager to see the band play live for the first time in 16 years complained of technical issues and long online waits that often ended in disappointment.
Fans trying to access the three websites selling the tickets — Ticketmaster, See Tickets and GigsandTours — reported such issues as error messages and being kicked off before they could purchase tickets.
Oasis’s management said in a statement the ticket seller’s “dynamic pricing” feature, which adjusts ticket prices up and down based on demand and often leaves fans paying prices far above face value, won’t be used for the North American concerts.
“It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable,” the statement reads.
“But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans.”
Ticketmaster first introduced dynamic pricing in 2022, saying the practice was being used to try to stop touts, also known as ticket scalpers, according to the BBC. Touts are people who acquire multiple tickets to sell them off at a profit later.
Dynamic pricing was in place for ticket sales to the U.K. and Ireland dates. Many fans who waited for more than three hours thinking they would pay the initially advertised rate of 148.50 pounds (around $264 Cdn) ended up paying 355.20 pounds ($631 Cdn).
CBC News has reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.
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