With the Earth-shattering news this week that Mancunian band Oasis would be reuniting for a highly anticipated tour, many Foresters jumped straight at the opportunity to acquire tickets. 

With tickets going on sale, the band announced that there would be a 24-hour presale ballot. However, fans were surprised when they had to answer a ‘fan question’ to access the presale. The question being: ‘Who was the drummer in the original Oasis line-up?’ 

This had many fans puzzled, as it’s not something you may have come across before. However, in light of this, experts at QR Code Generator examined the impact of answering ‘fan questions’ when acquiring concert tickets.  

A fan question is something that may be asked to access presale tickets. It’s not something that always happens - but with huge demand for the Oasis reunion, it has raised a few eyebrows across the UK. 

After the Oasis presale ballot went viral, fans immediately took to social media to express their dissatisfaction at having to answer the fan question, which was likened to a ‘pub quiz question’.  

Numerous Oasis fans expressed their disappointment at the number of people Googling the answer, complaining that the question did nothing to separate the ‘fake fans’ in the presale ballot. Essentially, there was no advantage to being a real fan and made the question moot.

Some fans hope that the website will be able to identify those who momentarily left the ballot to Google the answer.  

Of course, the ‘fan question’ for the Oasis presale stirred controversy, with thousands of fans accusing others of ‘cheating’ by looking up the answer. 

However, this isn’t the first time something like this has come up in the music world. Recently, fans were widely disappointed at not being able to gain presale access for Sabrina Carpenter’s anticipated summer tour, Short n’ Sweet. 

In America, fans were required to buy the singer’s CDs to access the presale ballot. Despite thousands of fans complying with this request, many were left disappointed when they could not obtain tickets in either the presale or general sale.  

A similar pattern was reflected in fans trying to gain presale access to Taylor Swift’s celebrated Eras Tour concert, with many believing that those selected for presale access were chosen randomly and unfairly.  

Thousands of fans have already taken to social media to complain that they have not yet received a confirmation email from the presale ballot, which raises questions about the fairness of presale access.

Other fans are concerned that two separate confirmation emails have been sent out, with rumours circulating that one email is intended for ‘loyal fans’ who are guaranteed to secure tickets in the sale.  

Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator said: “It goes without saying that presale access does not guarantee access to the final product, particularly in the case of concert tickets. However, it seems unfair that dedicated fans are disadvantaged in presale ballots, particularly when they are obliged to buy products beforehand in the hope of securing a ticket. 

“There’s a recurring trend in that people are unprepared for additional steps during the presale period, particularly when there is high demand for the final product. These presale ‘fan questions’ and requirements are clearly outdated practices, and there needs to be fairer methods for distributing presale access.

“In the case of the Oasis presale ballot, there is a consensus that fairer techniques should be employed to identify long-term fans from the masses of people applying for presale access. For example, it has been widely suggested on social media that those signed up for the Oasis newsletter should be placed at an advantage.

“It will be interesting to observe over the next few years whether the Oasis presale access will affect how other companies arrange access to presales in the future”. 

Oasis announced on social media that there has been an ‘unprecedented’ demand for tickets, resulting in three new UK dates being added to the tour. Due to the popularity of the iconic band, it has been widely reported that trying to obtain tickets for the summer tour will be chaotic, with many fans expecting to end up disappointed. 

Ultimately it will be a numbers game - but we hope you’re able to grab yourselves some tickets. Even though some might say it’s impossible. Good luck!