Oasis on File - Thousands of tickets sold on resale websites will be cancelled by Oasis ahead of their upcoming reunion tour. The band’s promoters, Live Nation and SJM, have told BBC File on 4 that it will cancel more than 50,000 tickets for the band's UK dates listed on secondary platforms. It said that all invalidated tickets will be made available again through the official seller, Ticketmaster, at face value.
There were 1.4m tickets on sale when Oasis announced their UK tour in August, but more than 10m fans from 158 countries joined the queue. Within hours, thousands of tickets appeared on resale sites at inflated prices. When tickets for the 2025 Oasis reunion tour went on sale, fans were told they could only purchase tickets at face value through Ticketmaster or resale partner, Twickets. The band's promoters said this was done in order to combat price inflation and prevent ticket touting.
Time To Act - Freelancers have said the "time to act is now" on a crisis for workers’ pay, security and well-being, following the first Arts Council England study into creative and cultural freelancers. Advocacy group Freelancers Make Theatre Work told The Stage the "thorough" and "hard-hitting" research, which found that almost three quarters of freelancers working in the arts earn less than £25,000 a year, proved the sector’s accumulating problems required urgent action.
A spokesperson said: "We consistently see the clearest evidence of a freelance workforce that faces huge and intensifying issues including low pay, career insecurity, vulnerability to ill treatment and barriers to access. These studies repeatedly demonstrate the urgent need for action, increased support and systemic reform by governments, funding bodies and the industry itself. The crisis in the freelance workforce is undeniable – and the time to act is now."
Ready for Auction - A console used to record the Beatles' Abbey Road album and found discarded in a skip is due to be auctioned off after a four-year restoration project. Malcolm Jackson and his son Hamish Jackson have worked within a wider group to restore the one-of-a-kind EMI TG12345 console. It was used to record the Beatles' hit album in the north London studios, which was released on 26 September 1969. It was later donated to a school that discarded it in a skip. It was subsequently found but left unused for years before the project was started, and will now be auctioned by online music marketplace, Reverb today.
With Latitude - Fatboy Slim and Snow Patrol have been revealed as the latest headliners for next year's Latitude festival. They join Sting for the 2025 music and arts event at Henham Park, near Southwold in Suffolk, from 24-27 July. Snow Patrol played the inaugural Latitude in 2006 and said they were "delighted" to be back, while Fatboy Slim said headlining the festival had been on his bucket list. Festival director Melvin Benn said the additions would "guarantee a weekend of incredible music".
The Illusionist - Andrew Lloyd Webber is penning a magical romance musical called The Illusionist, planned to be directed by Sunset Boulevard director Jamie Lloyd. The Phantom of the Opera composer hopes to present the production on Broadway and in the West End, with a score he told Deadline will be "operatic" in style.
It’s "early days", Webber said, and he is not sure where the production will receive its premiere outing – but said that he would "like it" to be in London. Lloyd, who is currently directing his revival of Sunset Boulevard in New York, has already been approached to work on the show. Screenwriter Chris Terrio is writing the book alongside Webber, with British songwriter Bruno Major also involved in the project, which is now seeking a designer to create its titular illusions.
Producer Michael Harrison said: "Whoever the magic person is, and we don’t know who it is yet, they’ll be heavily involved because it’s very important, obviously, if you’re doing a show called The Illusionist, that there be good illusions." The musical is to be loosely based on the 2006 film of the same name, which starred Edward Norton as Eisenheim, a magician persecuted for his illusions.
Bowing Out - Veteran DJ Johnnie Walker said "the day has come I've always dreaded" as he presented his final Sounds Of The 70s show on BBC Radio 2. The presenter announced earlier in the month he was retiring from radio after 58 years due to ill health. An emotional final show featured messages from his wife Tiggy and Sir Rod Stewart, before Walker ended by telling listeners "may we walk into the future with our heads held high and happiness in our hearts".
(Jim Evans)
