Keeping it light: how I got Oasis tickets

And it's all thanks to TikTok

Good afternoon!

The world feels quite hopeless right now so I thought I’d try and keep it light and talk about something no one has discussed in a while — Oasis.

Picture the scene: it’s some time in the 90s and I have just started senior school and my new friend, Emma, gives me a birthday present even though it’s October and my birthday was in June. She hands me a wrapped cassette of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? I open it unimpressed. My brother said it will change your life, Emma said, the first and only time anyone has ever said that to me.

Yes, this letter is going to be all about Oasis.

Until next time,
Katie x

PS. At the end of this letter is a photo of baby Katie and our kid (Noel). lol.

I wasn’t happy when I heard Oasis were reforming. In fact — at the risk of sounding dramatic — I was devastated. It was like Kate Bush all over again.

As a Kate Bush fan I’d lived in a state of permanent contentment knowing that me and every other fan would never see her live again. I listened to her music without threat of FOMO. It was bliss. And then the impossible became possible; a twenty-two night residency at the Hammersmith Apollo. I knew I wouldn’t get a ticket, and I was right. I didn’t.

I had to rectify this; I would get Oasis tickets. I would manifest it, I would research it, I would even take out a new credit card to pay for it (!!), because I owed it to 11-year-old Katie (me) to see them live.

So, I turned to a little known app, TikTok, and busied myself with research. There were several factors to getting tickets but these seemed to be the main takeaways — 

1. Tickets would be sold through three websites; Ticketmaster, Seetickets, and Gigsandtours. So make accounts with each website. CHECK.

2. To be able to use multiple devices, multiple accounts needed to be made using different email accounts. CHECK.

All devices go

The morning of the sale I could barely sleep. In fact, I hadn’t slept since the reunion was announced. I made a huge pot of coffee, loaded up every device we owned with all our accounts and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I followed the Guardian live blog, Twitter (sorry but I refuse to call it X!!!1), and TikTok live. I loved the TikTok lives the most, watching breathless fans shout as they edged closer towards the front of the queue. There was a weird thrill knowing we were all part of a cultural moment, ultimately all edging closer towards disappointment.

And then the unbelievable happened. The Seetickets browser, which we had almost forgotten about, suddenly spun into life. After four hours of silently refreshing itself Liam and Noel’s faces abruptly appeared. OASIS LIVE ’25. We clicked the image. Surely, surely, it wouldn’t take us to the dates?

But it did.

A timer also appeared - four minutes. We had four minutes to scroll through every date (LONDON WAS NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE MY HANDS WERE SWEATING), click a date, select a number of tickets, enter card details, check out. FOUR MINUTES!!1111

We were not logged in. Sorry, correction. I was logged in to all my devices. My husband was not. No matter! We logged in. The tickets were still there. We selected four tickets. The wheel spun. Tickets unavailable! Ok! We selected the next tier of tickets. Two minutes left. The wheel spun. Tickets unavailable! Now there were fewer tickets available. We selected blindly, not knowing the date or seat locations. Four tickets became three (sorry, Imran!). The wheel spun. The page loaded.

We’d done it. I cried. Actually, I sobbed. I mentally high-fived 11-year-old Katie, feeling slightly like Alan Partridge. We’re going to see Oasis, our kid.

Mad fer it.

Here’s a photo of baby Katie and Noel. I think from 8 years ago? From my past life as a photographer. I was on tour with Gorillaz and everyone was smoking so much weed I got a contact high. That’s never happened before. What a life!¹

1. Congratulations if you got that High Flying Birds reference x