David Gilmour has shared his thoughts on the upcoming Oasis reunion shows, and said that bands should “stick to” a set price for tickets.
The comments from the Pink Floyd icon come following news that Oasis’ Liam and Noel Gallagher had reconciled, and would be getting back together for their first shows in 16 years.
Tickets went on sale at the end of last month and officially sold out within a few hours. However, the entire process was far from smooth, with millions flocking to try to grab tickets and many – including Louis Tomlinson – being left disappointed after several issues arose.
Even before the sale commenced at 9am, Ticketmaster crashed, and with giant queues to contend with, many were left unable to even browse ticket options in the first place. Many complained about being kicked out of the queue after hours of waiting due to being mistaken for bots, and those attempting to purchase accessible tickets were unable to get through to the phone lines – despite some fans calling the designated number over 400 times.
Some who did eventually manage to get through the queues were then disappointed to see the cost of remaining tickets had increased due to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing policy; a process which sees prices hiked up due to high demand.
The ‘dynamic pricing’ soon led to widespread backlash. As well as countless fans, politicians like Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also weighed in, calling for a review of the policy and secondary ticket sites. Similarly, Twickets announced a U-turn on their stance – capping their booking fee at a maximum of £25 per ticket – while Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust (MVT), used the scramble as a way to highlight the struggles faced by grassroots venues.
Hundreds of fans then launched complaints to the Advertising Standards Association (ASA) over surge ticket pricing, debate arose about whether the lack of warning may have been a breach of consumer law, and fans celebrated Robert Smith for fighting Ticketmaster to keep The Cure ticket prices affordable.
Eventually, Oasis addressed the controversy – distancing themselves from the price hikes and announcing that they would be playing two extra shows at Wembley, but this time with much stricter rules in place for the ticket sales.
Now, following the debacle, David Gilmour has weighed in on the situation and said that he thinks bands should stay loyal to the price they initially lay out.
Speaking as part of a new interview with ITV News, the guitarist, singer and songwriter said: “I think Oasis should do exactly what they want to do. I’m not sure about this strange ticketing thing that’s going on. They should put a price on tickets and stick to it.”
He also reflected on how the levels of success achieved by bands like Pink Floyd and Oasis are much harder to attain in today’s climate.
“That was part of what was a golden age. There were a lot of record companies who had ideologies that involved them investing money in the futures of young, talented people. That doesn’t seem to be here right now in the same sort of way, unfortunately,” he said, reflecting on the struggles faced by new bands.
When asked why this may have changed, he responded: “Greed. Short-term thinking I suppose.”
The interview with ITV News comes as Gilmour is currently promoting his latest studio album ‘Luck and Strange’, which features lyrics written by his wife, author Polly Samson, and contributions from his children. The record, which marks his fifth solo release, arrived on Friday (September 6) via Sony Music.
During the discussion, Gilmour was asked whether or not fans could see him reunite with his Pink Floyd bandmates anytime soon.
“Dream on. It’s not going to happen,” he said. “There [are] only three people left and we’re not talking, and unlikely to. So it’s not going to happen.”
The less-than-enthusiastic response to a Pink Floyd reformation coincides with comments Gilmour in a separate interview with Rolling Stone around the album release date, where he revealed that it would be a “dream” to sell Pink Floyd’s catalogue, to distance himself from the “mud bath” with Roger Waters.
He also added that he finds it “boring” talking about his disagreements with the former bandmate. “As I said before, he left our pop group when I was in my 30s, and I’m a pretty old chap now, and the relevance of it is not there. I don’t really know his work since. So I don’t have anything to say on the topic.”
The tension between the two former Pink Floyd members has gone on for decades, and came to a head again recently when Gilmour attacked Waters with claims of antisemitism.
In February last year, Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson shared a tweet in which she accused Waters of being “antisemitic to [his] rotten core”, as well as “a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac”.
Gilmour then re-shared Samson’s tweet, adding that “every word [is] demonstrably true”.
Waters himself issued a statement in response, which saw him describe Samson’s comments as “incendiary and wildly inaccurate” and continued that he “refutes [them] entirely”. He added that he was “taking advice as to his position” regarding the claims.
Last year, Gilmour also promoted a documentary on Roger Waters’ alleged anti-Semitism, and Waters has continuously denied all allegations made against him.
More recently, Gilmour performed his first live gig in four years at an East Sussex pub’s open mic night, and also looked back at the time his son was jailed for a protest on a war memorial, saying that he has “forgiven” Keir Starmer for the arrest.
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