As Oasis ticket prices spark outrage, why are gigs so expensive?

The prices for Oasis' 2025 reunion tour have faced a backlash, leaving many music fans wondering why are concerts so expensive now?

Liam and Noel Gallagher announced their Oasis reunion tour, with seated ticket prices starting at £74.25 and the most expensive VIP treatment costing £506.25 for a pre-show party, exhibition and seated show experience.

There have been reports the Gallagher brothers could make £50m each from the Oasis reunion tour. Some fans were furious over the cost of the tickets but they are still hotly anticipated. There have been 17 dates announced for the UK and Ireland in 2025.

Read more: How to get Oasis tickets as new dates and prices announced

It is a huge date in the showbiz calendar in 2025, especially as the Gallagher brothers famously fell out backstage in 2009 breaking up Oasis for what fans feared would be forever. To see them reunited, not only will delight their mum but, has excited the nation.

Now Birmingham City University's Course Director BA(Hons) Music Business, Dr Matt Grimes, spoke to Yahoo exclusively to shine a light on why ticket prices for live music events have become more expensive, how the Gallagher's prices compare to Taylor Swift's Eras tour in the UK as well as why nostalgia sells so well.

"What's interesting, particularly for Oasis, is that their whole identity and image has been built around this very notion of being working class, ordinary working class lads from Manchester," he told Yahoo.

"There has been a backlash in the media. You can see it on forums where fans are saying, 'We made you, we supported you 30 years ago. We we came and saw your gigs. Bought your records. We were all working class folks and we can't afford to come and see you now. So you've really sort of cut out that area of your fan base.'

"It's what I call the Premiership football phenomena. Football was traditionally a working class sport. There's not many working class people that can afford to go and see Manchester City play now and it's becoming the same with gigs. The price of tickets for Oasis £150 pounds, clearly a lot less than Taylor Swift. But Taylor Swift is on a global tour, so the cost of running a global tour is huge."

Why are music tickets so expensive?

The Birmingham City University's Course Director pin pointed a shift in the cost of music gigs as a knock on effect that Covid continues to have. As many freelancers were left without jobs during the 2020 pandemic, Dr Grimes said they found secure positions elsewhere and since haven't returned to the "precarious" freelance work in music industry - meaning there is a shortage of staff.

He explained: "There has been an ongoing issue with this, I would suggest post-Covid. During Covid, there was a lot of live facilities, companies, PA companies, touring companies and a lot of freelance workers that were working in the live entertainment industry.

"But clearly during Covid had no work. So, as a result many of them went off and had to find other jobs elsewhere. Now, clearly post-Covid, we've slowly, the live industry is slowly recovering and coming back. But a lot of the staff that used to work in that sector, of course, are now working elsewhere. Being a freelancer is a precarious employment situation anyway.

Read more: Why did Oasis split up?

"The other thing that has added to that is since Covid the cost of putting on live events has increased, incredibly, so there's a lack of staff, so staff who are working in the sector can clearly charge higher premium for their services. There's also a lack of equipment. All of the elements that are involved in live music production in putting on a live event."

As well as staff shortages, Dr Grimes said the costs have "gone through the roof". The university expert said there are a long list of people and things to pay for when it comes to gigs including: venues, management company, promoters, ticket agents, staff working the live event, merchandise, the printing of the merchandise, selling of the merchandise, roadies setting up the PA sound system, stage managers.

He further explained: "The cost of hiring portaloos has gone through the roof so clearly, those costs have to be met somewhere. Venues are charging more. Then if you think about the price of a ticket, as a customer, somebody who's going to a live concert, you look at the cost of a ticket and you look at the artist and go, 'Wow, they're making a lot of money out of this.' Actually, there's a lot of people that need to get paid."

Dr Grimes concluded: "Everybody needs paying and those services need paying for, so it is expensive. I'm not defending the price of tickets, they are expensive."

Why nostalgia sells

It's expected that the Oasis tickets will quickly sell out when they go on sale on Saturday. The university course director has lifted the lid on why nostalgia sells to the masses. "Nostalgia and popular music sells," he said.

He added: "The reason it sells big time is because most of the people with expendable income are those in their forties and fifties. Their kids have grown up and left home. So they've got more expendable income to spend on gigs to spend on things like vinyl. There has been a huge increase in vinyl sales, mostly amongst older generations."

Dr Grimes gave the example of Bruce Springsteen's pricey tickets in Cardiff. "It is a lot of money," he said. "But again, the audience at those gigs were predominately people in their fifties and sixties who could afford to go."

Where are Oasis playing?

Here are all the dates you need to get in your diary for the Oasis tour across the UK and Ireland.

• Cardiff Principality Stadium - 4 July, 5 July

• Manchester Heaton Park - 11 July, 12 July, 16 July, 19 July, 20 July

• London Wembley Stadium - 25 July, 26 July, 30 July, 2 August, 3 August

• Edinburgh Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium - 8 August, 9 August, 12 August

• Dublin Croke Park - 16 August, 17 August