Ticketmaster may have breached consumer laws by failing to warn Oasis fans about "dynamic pricing" for the band's highly anticipated reunion tour, with the company facing scrutiny from the UK government over its pricing practices.

Fans were left dismayed after queueing for hours to purchase tickets for Oasis's 2025 shows, only to discover that prices had dramatically increased. Some reported that £135 standing tickets had risen to £355 by the time they reached checkout.

The government announced on Sunday that it would include dynamic pricing in a review of ticketing practices. Consumer law experts suggest that Ticketmaster's implementation of dynamic pricing may have violated regulations if fans were not clearly informed that prices could increase.

Sylvia Rook, lead officer for fair trading at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, explained: "It is a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008) if a trader misleads consumers regarding the price of goods and services, if that causes the average consumer to take a different 'transactional decision'."

The consumer group Which? has called on the Competition and Markets Authority to clarify whether Ticketmaster's use of dynamic pricing for the Oasis tour was "legal under current rules".

Despite the backlash, Michael Rapino, chief executive officer of Live Nation Entertainment, which owns Ticketmaster, indicated that dynamic pricing is set to become more common in the UK, Ireland, and Europe. Speaking in February, Rapino stated: "Outside of the US, we're in the first inning ... We're just rolling this [dynamic pricing] out around the world. So that's the great growth opportunity, obviously."

The controversy has garnered criticism from political figures. Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South who is currently in the midst of a six month suspension after disobeying the parliamentary whip, posted on X about her 'three hour wait' for tickets, following it up with a succinct message of "Nationalise Ticketmaster".

House of Commons Leader Lucy Powell, an MP for the band's native Manchester, told Sky News that she didn't agree with the calls to nationalise the ticketing platform, but that her tickets were "a bit more than I was hoping to pay for them."

In Ireland, deputy prime minister Mícheál Martin described the pricing row as "quite shocking" and suggested there may be grounds for the country's consumer body to investigate. Mary Lou McDonald, president of Sinn Féin, argued that working-class Oasis fans were being "thrown under the bus" by the pricing system.

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