UK Oasis fans have lost an estimated £2 million to ticket scammers since tickets for the historic reunion tour went on sale last year, according to new research.

Analysing over 1,000 reports from its customers, Lloyds Bank found a surge in fraud cases around the sold-out run, with 56% of all reported concert ticket scams being for the Mancunian rockers.

“The Oasis tour is the latest target for ticket scammers, with millions of pounds of fans’ money stolen before the gigs even kick off,” says Liz Ziegler, Lloyds’ fraud prevention director.

Victims have lost an average of £436 each, with the largest amount lost at over £1,700, the banking group found. Combined with its own clientele, Lloyds gauged roughly 5,000 individuals have been targeted, resulting in over £2m lost to fraudsters.

Ticket swindles for the sold-out run are surging across social media platforms, with a reported 90% of incidents starting on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Fake adverts and unofficial resale groups are prime deceivers for fans looking to score tickets.

“The fact that so many cases start with fake listings on social media, often in violation of the platforms’ own rules, underscores the importance of these companies taking stronger action to tackle scams,” Ziegler says. “It’s vital that consumers feel empowered to shop safely online. Buying directly from reputable, authorised retailers is the only way to guarantee you’re paying for a genuine ticket.”

Oasis’s 2025 tour onsale rocketed to become the biggest-ever concert launch in the UK and Ireland

These new findings are the latest chapter in the ongoing saga around Oasis’ ticket sales, which sent the nation into frenzy during the onsale last August. It rocketed to become the biggest-ever concert launch in the UK and Ireland, with more than 10 million fans from 158 countries attempting to buy tickets for the group’s first shows since 2009.

With the blockbuster demand and swift sell-outs came reports of dynamic pricing, prompting government and watchdog investigations into the tour. In February, a new twist came as ticketing platforms Ticketmaster and See Tickets cancelled an unspecified number of tickets bought by those believed to have broken the terms and conditions.

Predatory cons are seemingly unavoidable with high-profile tours of this magnitude. Similar reports emerged last year around Taylor Swift’s record-shattering Eras Tour run, with UK fans losing over £1m in addition to scams in Australia and Singapore.

All of this comes ahead of the legendary British rock group’s return to touring this summer. The Oasis Live 2025 tour, promoted by Live Nation, MCD Productions, SJM Concerts and DF Concerts, will see the group relaunch at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium (cap. 74,500) from 4-5 July before continuing onto Manchester’s Heaton Park (11-12, 16, 19-20 July), London’s Wembley Stadium (25-26, 30 July, 2-3 August & 27-28 September), Edinburgh’s Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium (8-9, 12 August), and Dublin’s Croke Park (16-17 August).

The reunion tour will then see the group play stadiums across North America, Asia, Australia, and South America before the year is out.

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The UK music business has been abuzz with talk of an Oasis reunion over the past few days, with an announcement teased for 8am tomorrow.

Rumours of a reconciliation between Liam and Noel Gallagher have been frequent since the Britpop icons split following a backstage bust-up at France’s Rock en Seine in August 2009.

But this time there does appear to be substance to the speculation, first reported by The Times over the weekend, which cited industry insiders claiming the brothers had agreed to a run of open-air concerts in London and Manchester next summer.

Oasis would join a long line of music greats to put years of acrimony aside and reunite. Fellow Manchester legends The Stone Roses got back together in late 2011, having disbanded in 1996 – an almost identical period of estrangement to the Gallagher brothers.

The Roses’ three nights at Manchester’s Heaton Park in the summer of 2012 were reportedly the fastest-selling UK rock gigs of all time, with 220,000 tickets being sold in just 68 minutes. The band continued to perform until 2017, when they quietly went their separate ways once more.

The highest-grossing reunion tour to date is Guns N’ Roses‘ mammoth 2016-19 Not in This Lifetime… Tour, which featured the “classic” lineup of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan for the first time since 1993. Billboard data shows the Live Nation-promoted tour grossed US$584.2 million from 5,371,891 ticket sales, making it the third highest-grossing tour in history up to that point.

Where UK comebacks are concerned, Take That‘s 2005 return is still the gold standard

The Police‘s 2007/08 Reunion Tour, which followed their 1986 split, was a similarly monster success, taking the crown for the top-grossing tour of 2007 after generating $362m in total, according to Billboard Boxscore, while The Eagles‘ 1994-96 Hell Freezes Over Tour – their first jaunt in 14 years – garnered £152.9m.

Elsewhere, Fleetwood Mac‘s 2014-15 On with the Show, which saw Christine McVie rejoin the group for the first time since 1998, pulled in $199.2 according to Pollstar figures.

Other famous reunions include Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (1999-2000), Black Sabbath (2012-14), Van Halen (2007) with original singer David Lee Roth, Iron Maiden, whose singer Bruce Dickinson rejoined in 1999 following a six-year absence, and Genesis (2021/22). In addition, Led Zeppelin played a one-off gig at The O2 in London in 2007, while Pink Floyd briefly regrouped for a performance at Live 8 in 2005.

Away from the rock realm, Jonas Brothers continue to do stellar business since returning from a six-year hiatus in 2019, while the Spice Girls have held two triumphant reunions – 2007/08’s The Return of the Spice Girls tour, which netted $70.1m from 45 arena concerts, and Spice World – 2019 UK Tour, which grossed $78.2m from just 13 stadium shows.

But in terms of lasting success, Take That‘s 2005 return remains the gold standard in their homeland. Their 2011 Progress Live tour with Robbie Williams, which saw all five original members perform together for the first time in 16 years, grossed $185.2m, with more than 1.8m tickets sold across 29 sold out stadium shows. Thirteen years on, it is still the biggest tour in UK history.

CAA’s Paul Franklin spoke to IQ about the roaring trade of reunion tours earlier this year.

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British pop sensations S Club 7 will reunite for a UK and Ireland tour this year, to mark their 25th anniversary.

Jo O’Meara, Rachel Stevens, Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Bradley McIntosh and Jon Lee will hit the road again together for the first time since 2015.

The 11-date 2023 tour will kick off at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on 13 October, before visiting cities including Dublin, Glasgow and Newcastle, and ending at London’s O2 Arena on 28 October.

“After eight years it feels amazing to announce that we’re reuniting and performing together again,” they said.

“We’re so excited to bring the S Club party back to our fans across the country to celebrate 25 years of S Club 7”

“We’re so excited to bring the S Club party back to our fans across the country to celebrate 25 years of S Club 7. We can’t even believe it’s been so long. Music and friendship have always been at the core of everything that we’ve ever done. We hope everyone can join us for one big party.”

Originally created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller in 1998, S Club 7 had four UK number-one singles, including Bring It All Back, and a chart-topping debut album.

The group also had their own BBC TV series, Miami 7 – a children’s sitcom based on the lives of the group who had moved to Miami in search of fame. The second series was titled LA 7 after they moved to Los Angeles.

They disbanded in 2003, but came back together in 2014 for the BBC’s Children In Need charity appeal, performing a medley of their best-loved tunes. They went on to release new music and tour the following year.

All SEVEN members of @SClub7 are here! 🙌

Live and exclusive on #TheOneShow at 7pm 👉 https://t.co/kTuZTnDl9U pic.twitter.com/Sbi4z1Rf5F

— BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) February 13, 2023

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