From Oasis to Taylor Swift, how to buy tickets to the world's biggest concerts

The National's writers share secrets of their success: co-ordination, dedication and more than a little bit of luck

Liam Gallagher performs at Heaton Park, Manchester, in 2009. Oasis split up weeks later. Shutterstock

Oasis recently announced they are reuniting for a mammoth UK tour, with tickets going on sale on Saturday. Billed as one of next year’s biggest tours, demand is so high that tickets for all 17 stadium shows are expected to sell out quickly.

But where there is a will, there is a way. Getting tickets to such anticipated shows requires tenacity, co-ordination and that little bit of luck – but it is doable. Here is how some of the writers at The National successfully bought tickets to some of the world's biggest gigs.

Oasis at Heaton Park, Manchester (2009)

Anyone looking to get tickets to see the best rock band in the world listen up, I’ve done it before. Admittedly this was 2009 – the tour that finally proved too much for the endlessly explosive Gallagher brothers – and technology has changed. But one core principle remains: dedication.

Oasis were set to play three nights in Manchester and my friends and I were desperate to go. Being Mancunian, seeing Oasis is about as close to a coming-of-age ritual as we have. Five of us were trying and, back then, you had to call up the promoter to buy a ticket and sit in a queue for hours.

I didn’t have a credit card, I’d lost my mobile (second-hand Motorolla flip phone) about three months before and hadn’t bothered to get a new one. With no mobile, I was on the house phone, friends were doing the same and I think one even had commandeered the office phone where he was an intern.

We roped in anyone we could to help and passed the message on: five tickets, Thursday, June 4. After what felt like an eternity listening to the countdown of: “You are number 312 in the queue,” I eventually reached double figures. Then I was cut off. Despite handing me her bank card and stepping over me to reach the computer, my mum had decided “to do emailing” and, as we still had a dial-up internet connection (Google it), the phone line went dead.

But I don’t look back in anger, a colleague of a friend’s dad had managed to get some, while his wife had also got through. Meaning they had spares to sell. Meaning we could go. The only trouble was, when this ended up being the gig where Noel declared “free refunds to all” after a busted generator disrupted the show, Mr Hero Colleague rang up the promoter and pocketed the refund for the tickets he’d already sold to us.

The two lessons are: if you want the tickets, get everyone available to try on any device they have and don’t stop to email or break focus in any way until you have them. And whatever you do, don’t trust your friend's dad's colleagues or any other third-party sellers when things go wrong.

Dean Wilkins, sub-editor

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour (2024)

With eight shows in one tour, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour set a record for most performances at Wembley Stadium, London, this summer. Getty Images

I learnt everything I know about getting concert and festival tickets from the process of getting tickets to Glastonbury 2016. It involved a WhatsApp group, a lot of preparation and an Excel spreadsheet. A much more corporate initiation to the hippy utopia I thought I was entering, but it worked, so I cannot knock it.

In short, it’s all about teamwork and organisation. There was a group of 20 people going (I knew four, maximum), who were divided into smaller teams of five. Ahead of ticket buying day, registration codes were shared (hence the spreadsheet), and at crunch time everyone worked to buy the five tickets for their team – maximising the chance to get them. When each of the teams slowly reported a successful purchase of five tickets, the spreadsheet was updated and people then started working across the board to keep trying for tickets for anyone who was still empty-handed. In the end, all 20 festivalgoers got their tickets.

Fast-forward eight years to my bid to get my hands on much-coveted tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, when we took a similar approach, just without a spreadsheet. My group of friends all pre-registered and teamed up to buy tickets together, with partners also helping out to double the chances. The key is not pinning hopes on one person to come through with a handful of tickets, everyone has to pitch in.

Although, with the Eras Tour there was a very commercial twist in the tale. One friend had a pre-pre-sale code (yes, they exist), which she received after buying a physical copy of the Midnights album. So, I suppose the moral of the story is: the merch and physical media-loyal fans may well come out on top. And also, it’s going to cost you a fair amount of money, whichever way you look at it.

Farah Andrews, head of features

Metallica at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne (2004)

Dedication, co-ordination and good internet is what gave me the chance to see Metallica for the first time in 2004. At the time, the band were at a low ebb courtesy of the near career-ending album St Anger. This meant reconnecting with the jaded fan base by playing in more “intimate” arenas like the 10,000-capacity Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.

Dodgy album or not, my friends and I were determined to get those tickets. The last time they came to Australia was in 1998 when we were still teenagers and barely had any money. Now that I was a proud part-time employee of the local video store, dropping $150 – the equivalent of a week's wage – to see the metal titans didn’t seem like an issue. Even if that meant taking homemade tuna sandwiches to university for a few days.

So this is how we did it. Tickets went on sale at 9am and the three of us didn’t want to take our chances on my low-speed internet to purchase them online. So we fanned out instead. Since I didn’t have a car, I was tasked with attempting to purchase tickets online. My other friends drove to different ticketing outlets to see if they could get them physically.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the radical plan we thought it was. The website predictably crashed at 9am and the local television news reported on the huge number of metalheads congregating at various shopping malls to purchase the tickets physically.

But we persevered. My friends progressed up the line slowly and surely, while I kept smashing the refresh button on my computer mouse. It was myself who ended up in pole position and purchased the tickets, after which I called the guys with a frantic message to “stand down, mission accomplished".

Perhaps, it was too immature because I then had to explain to my irate mother why $450 suddenly disappeared from her credit card. But it was worth it. Metallica were simply glorious and, while I went on to see them again in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, nothing will beat the first time.

Saeed Saeed, culture reporter

Stone Roses at Etihad Stadium, Manchester (2016)

The Stone Roses reunited in 2012 and played for several years before splitting up again in 2017. Photo: Phil Noble

It was October 2011 when the Stone Roses confirmed their first tour dates in 16 years. The feud was so bad between the four-member indie band – much like the Gallagher brothers – it felt like an unbelievable moment. This, finally, was my chance to see the band that had come to define much of my formative music taste perform live.

The band picked Manchester’s Heaton Park for three shows in June 2012. But despite much co-ordination with friends and family to arrange tickets online, it wasn’t to be. There were other dates on the reunion tour and other chances, but none in their home city of Manchester. It felt like a risk, but I decided to bide my time and wait, hopefully, for another opportunity.

Three years later, I noticed the sporadic appearance of lemon posters across the city. These weren’t just any lemons, these were lemons drawn in the exact style of Stone Roses’ artwork of yesteryear. They were coming home again, and I wasn’t missing out for a second time.

Feeling like I was one step ahead of the game, I signed up for mailing lists for every major ticket-seller in the UK and I followed every member of the band on social media and, of course, the band itself. Then, in November 2015, four dates were confirmed for the following summer at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.

Despite having pre-sale access and having signed up for everything I possibly could, I still enlisted the help of my sister and a mutual friend to refresh, refresh and refresh again on the morning of their release. I broke through first, though. My meticulous planning had worked, with a mailing list providing a hyperlink to purchase tickets moments before the general sale went live.

I had got three tickets and was finally able to see the Roses in action. When they opened with I Wanna Be Adored to a packed and adoring home crowd, I knew the wait had been worth every second. Here’s hoping for more of the same with Noel and Liam next summer.

Tom Evans, assistant news editor