Eras, Oasis, and the never ending one-upmanship of music fandom
What we’re not going to do is let the Oasis reunion bring out the worst in us. This is joyous news for a broad spectrum of fans, so let’s not devise some kind of hierarchy to decide who’s more deserving of a gig ticket.
I, like one tenth of Ireland’s population, logged onto Ticketmaster this past Saturday morning with a level of optimism that was perhaps, in hindsight, a little overzealous. After sitting patiently in the cyber waiting room for 25 minutes, on the strike of 8am I was informed that I was lucky number 467,982 in the queue. For a gig in Croke Park, which has a capacity of 82,300.
If you somehow missed the news, a klaxon was sounded last week to inform the legions of Oasis fans around the world that their prayers have been answered, and that the brothers have put their differences aside for a reunion tour taking place in Ireland and the UK in August 2025, their first since they split back in 2009.
9am on here tomorrow pic.twitter.com/E6ij6WtLJ1
— Super Hams (@TheRstott) August 26, 2024
Naturally, thousands and thousands of fans were left disappointed, and the purported ticket price of €86.50 was driven up to as much as €415.50 for some.
Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing massively hiked up the costs because demand was so damn high, and because they’ve got the monopoly on it, fans had no choice but to fork it over and count themselves lucky that they even made it so far. That being said, there was a presale happening the evening prior, codes to which were supplied to *some* fans via a lottery system.
In order to put your hat in the ring for said presale code, you were required to answer a multiple choice question: Who was the original drummer for Oasis? This, for many of the 20-something female contingent, constituted the first name-three-songs one-upmanship that would be foisted upon us.
The reunion tour is being heralded by many as ‘the Eras tour for middle aged men’, and while I’m happy for them (no really, I am), my mind keeps coming back to a line from Caitlin Moran’s 2018 novel, How to be Famous: “Boys love clever things, cleverly and girls love foolish things, foolishly.”
“Our language is full of how little we think of artists who are loved by teenage girls: we talk of ‘mad fans’, and ‘teenyboppers’, and ‘little girls wetting their knickers’. … Of course, they don’t get it. Only you get it. Men are the right fans to have. This is why rock is cooler than pop; acid house is cooler than disco.”
The same men who were making fun of Taylor Swift fans for dressing up and exchanging friendship bracelets will be the very ones donning parkas and adjusting and readjusting their mod cuts.
This feeling of frustration is compounded even more so by the fact that Oasis are, quite literally, one of the most popular bands in the world. Yes, some Gen-Z fans came to them later in life than the blokes who were raised on Brit Pop and lager, but that is because they were, in fact, born later.
Imagine waiting 15 years for Oasis to reform only to lose out on tickets to Chloe, 21 from Stockport who just wants to hear Wonderwall live. #oasisreunion
— Billy Corcoran (@BillyCorcoran) August 26, 2024
Yes, trying to get a ticket for a gig in a venue with limited capacity, especially something with the glimmer of once in a lifetime such as this, involves a degree of competition. But when that competition descends into deep seated anger, a feeling that certain fans are more deserving than others, it’s actually just a bit weird?
Noel Gallagher’s daughter, Anais, agrees. In a TikTok posted by a user complaining of the patronising attitude to younger, typically female fans, the 24-year-old commented: “One thing I won’t stand for is the ageism and the misogyny around people getting tickets. Sorry if a 19 year old girl in a pink cowboy hat wants to be there, I will have my friendship bracelets ready.”
@josie_cannellrant over? 5 Minute Silence – Dann Close
I ask this sincerely: Why do you care who else is at the same gig as you? As long as they’re not actively bothering you, and are abiding by good concert etiquette (which has, admittedly, been lacking in some these days), shouldn’t we all just be enjoying the show? Not monitoring the crowd in case someone doesn’t know all the lyrics. Anyway, here’s ‘Wonderwall’.
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