Edinburgh Council to charge Oasis for costs of putting on gigs
City of Edinburgh Council will charge Oasis for the cost of hosting the band’s reunion tour dates next summer.
Oasis announced their return earlier this year, with a long-awaited reunion tour that will include three shows at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 8, 9 and 12 August 2025.
Now, the council have announced they’ll be billing the band as part of a new policy which applies a 100% cost recovery to commercial events. The new regulations will come into force in the coming days – almost a year before the newly reunited Gallagher brothers play in the arena.
Council leader Cammy Day said taxpayers should not “bear the costs” of the city hosting large-scale events, per BBC News. “Of course, these concerts bring tens of millions of pounds to the city and it’s hugely successful and we want that to continue, but the impact shouldn’t be on our residents,” he said.
It follows the local authority spending £40,000 on extra facilities and security measures when Taylor Swift kicked off the UK leg of her ‘Eras Tour’ with three sold-out shows in the city in June. Figures released in August showed the council spent £16,934 on security measures, £3,650 on lighting, £2,985 on temporary toilets, £678 on radios, £642 on CCTV, £400 on signage and £1,434.36 on “intelligent traffic signals”.
Council staff also reportedly worked 1,044 hours of overtime, which based on the real living wage amounts to at least £12,528.
Promoters paid a £21,913 bill for cleaning and waste management, while additional costs were also met by Murrayfield owners, Scottish Rugby.
Oasis fans have already expressed their concern over the band’s Edinburgh reunion shows taking place at the same time as the city’s Festival Fringe, which is set to run between August 1 to 25.
The Fringe – which describes itself as “one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture on the planet” – takes place across the city every August. It creates a significant demand for accommodation and puts a strain on the city’s public transport network.
As The Independent reported earlier this summer, prices for places to stay in Edinburgh were being increased by as much as £1,125 per night during the 2024 Fringe.
The issue was reportedly worse than ever this year due to new short-let regulations introduced in Scotland last October, which mean hosts and hotels need a licence or face a fine of up to £2,500.
In other news, the band recently announced that a dynamic pricing structure will not be applied to their North American reunion tour dates.
‘OASIS LIVE ’25’ reunion tour caused controversy among fans after they were taken by surprise by the dynamic pricing in place on Ticketmaster. The ticketing platform’s “surge pricing” scheme, introduced in 2022, increases ticketing priced based on demand.
Following the UK and Ireland sale controversy, the issue was brought to the Advertising Standards Agency and the European Commission, with a separate call for an investigation brought by the UK government and the European Commission.
Experts also suggested that not warning Oasis fans of the dynamic pricing may breach consumer law.
Oasis responded at the time with a statement which read: “Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management, and at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used.”
The band are due to kick off their North American leg on August 24, 2025 with an opening night at the Rogers Stadium in Toronto, before the Gallagher brothers head over to the United States for three shows.
These include a night at Soldier Field in Chicago and a gig at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on August 28 and 31 respectively, followed by a show at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles on September 6.
Registration for the presale is currently open on Oasis’s website until tomorrow (October 1) at 8am EST. The general sale for tickets will go live on Friday (October 4) at 10am local time. Visit here to buy tickets and find more details here.
The announcement comes just days after NME exclusively revealed the cities that Oasis will be playing on their upcoming 2025 reunion tour.
The post Edinburgh Council to charge Oasis for costs of putting on gigs appeared first on NME.
Laura Molloy
NME
