Fears of Glastonbury ticket chaos as organisers bring in Oasis-style queuing system
Festival-goers are fearful of Glastonbury ticket chaos after organisers announced an Oasis-style queuing system for next year’s event.
The introduction of an automatic online queue was announced as fans eagerly await next week’s ticket sales for the festival, on Nov 14 and 17.
Those hoping to attend have been told they will be “randomly assigned a place in a queue” online rather than refreshing the holding page as in previous years. People who log on late will be automatically added to the back of the line.
The system has previously been used to sell tickets for concerts by major artists, including in the controversial Oasis reunion, as well as for acts such as Taylor Swift and Coldplay.
Worried Glastonbury fans immediately responded to the change with concerns, including one who said they “got through for Oasis” on the system, before being “kicked out after trying to pay”.
They added that they “cannot bear that this is a possibility for Glastonbury now”.
Another fan complained that perseverance would no longer pay off, saying: “Now anyone can join and have an equal chance, including the people who otherwise would leave and complain after a few mins of refreshing [the website]”.
Others said they would “reserve their judgment” until ticket sales went live.
In September, Oasis faced backlash from fans after Ticketmaster implemented the practice of dynamic pricing – which raises prices with high demand – for the Manchester band’s coveted reunion tour tickets. Many also reported being “kicked out” of the site after queuing for hours.
Glastonbury has made no plans to introduce dynamic pricing to its ticketing system.
Fans will still have to register in advance for their tickets to the festival, but by cutting out the need to refresh the website while waiting, it is hoped the load on the ticketing system might be reduced.
Glastonbury has not announced the line-up for next summer yet, but demand is sure to be high after it was announced that the event will take a year off in 2026 to give the land a rest.
Emily Eavis, the festival co-organiser, said that the festival “before a fallow year is always a fun one to plan because you almost have to fit two years into one”. And she pledged that 2025 has “got to be the best one yet”.
Glastonbury, Britain’s biggest music festival, released a statement on Tuesday which said: “The booking process itself for 2025 will be the same as in previous years. However, the way in which you join the booking process is changing.”
They added that instead of “refreshing the holding page to attempt to access the booking page”, users will be randomly assigned a place in the queue.
Organisers also urged users “to make sure you are online and ready at least a few minutes before the sale opens,” so that they do not get added to the back of the queue once it starts.
The cost of attending the festival next summer will be £373.50 on top of a booking fee of £5. Fans can buy a maximum of six tickets for the event and they will have 10 minutes to complete their details once at the front of the line.
Some festival-goers were hopeful about the change, saying that it could “reward people who are organised and prepared”.