Error messages and lengthy online queues greet fans scrambling to secure Oasis reunion tickets

Oasis fans seeking tickets to the band's reunion tour endured hourslong waits, and in some cases disappointment, as online platforms strained under demand Saturday from hundreds of thousands of fans.

 Oasis fans seeking tickets to the band's reunion tour endured hourslong waits, and in some cases disappointment, as online platforms strained under demand Saturday from hundreds of thousands of fans.

The Britpop-era behemoth led by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher is scheduled to play 17 gigs — its first shows for 15 years — in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin starting July 4.

More than one million tickets went on sale Saturday morning, with prices starting at about 74 pounds (just under US$100).

Some people attempting to get onto the handful of authorized sales sites, including Ticketmaster and Gigs and Tours, received error messages, while many others were informed they were in a lengthy queue.

Josh Jeffery, a videographer who lives near Edinburgh, spent hours moving up the online ticket queue, before “the whole site collapsed” at the last step.

“I’ve given up, my friends have given up," said Jeffery, who first saw Oasis in Manchester as a teenager in 1996. “We just decided it’s too much hassle.

“As I was in the queue, I heard ‘Wonderwall’ blasting out from my neighbor’s house," he added ruefully. "He’d obviously got tickets.”