Brit Music Scene

Technical Difficulties Cost Oasis $5 million In Refunds

Posted: 06 Jun 2009 02:05 PM PDT

You can say a lot of bad things about Oasis - they’re past it, they’re full of themselves, they’re a decade out of date - all of which are true to a certain extent. But you cannot fault them for the loyalty they show to their fans, who return it in droves, or their willingness to go beyond the pale in order to please their fans.

Thursday saw Oasis play one of their biggest shows since Knebworth. Everything was set for the Heaton Park gig; the tickets were all sold, and six months of planning were in the bag. What could go wrong? Quite a lot as it turns out. First The Enemy had to pull out as support, to be replaced by Reverend and The Makers. Then the sound system blew not once but twice during Oasis’ set.

In all, Oasis were off the stage for 40 minutes during their 23-song set, having been forced to walk off twice due to “technical difficulties”. But the band still played their full set, running well past curfew in order to achieve this. So everyone there got the show they’d paid for.

Despite this, Oasis decided to give refunds to all of the 70,000 strong crowd who turned up for the gig. The YouTube video below shows the band returning to the stage after their second stint off it. Liam and Noel both apologize for the delays and promise that the concert is now free, with all punters being offered the chance to claim a refund.

Details of how to claim said refund are now on the Official Oasis Web site. I do wonder how many fans will bother to fill in the claim forms and send them back, especially when they got a full show including two first-class support acts. Oasis are being very generous because they are set to lose around £3 million ($5 million) if everyone in attendance claims the refund.

This shows that Oasis aren’t the idiots some make them out to be. In fact, they know that fan loyalty is what has kept them going for this long, despite releasing some less than stellar albums in the middle part of their career. This proves not all bands are just out for what they can get, rinsing fans at every available opportunity.

[Photo Source: Newscom]

Post from: Brit Music Scene