Oasis tribute band forced to cancel gigs during reunion tour

An Oasis tribute act has been forced to cancel gigs due to low ticket sales during the band’s reunion tour.

Paul Higginson, who plays Liam, and Phil Fisher, who plays Noel, have been fronting Oasish for 20 years.

But since Oasis kicked off its reunion tour in Cardiff last week, Paul, 54, and Phil, 41, have had to cancel a number of shows because of a failure to flog tickets.

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The pair axed a gig in Huddersfield Town Hall, West Yorks, on 3 July and lost £1,000, which they’d spent on marketing.

They managed to sell just 76 tickets out of 500 and say they would have lost around £5,000 if they’d gone ahead with the show.

The tickets were £26 each, and it cost the band £3,500 to put on a performance.

They were also forced to pull out of a second show in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, because of low ticket sales.

“It’s getting harder,” Paul, from Reading, Berkshire, told What’s The Jam.

“Ticket sales have died down.

“Maybe it’s the timing with Oasis reuniting.

“The Huddersfield gig just didn’t land, and the one in Brierley Hill was done through a promoter, and they didn’t market us enough.

“As for losing £1,000, that’s the risk you take.

“I’ve lost a lot more than that on shows that have gone ahead.

“People think it looks amazing, and they bet we’ve made a fortune.

“I’ve lost a fortune because there aren’t enough tickets being sold.

“People haven’t got as much money.

“With the state of the current financial climate, people are struggling and the days of having spare cash to see a tribute band are gone.”

“It’s very frustrating.”

Paul said when Oasis announced their reunion last year, ticket sales went “through the roof”.

Now the duo are planning on rebranding itself to draw in a bigger audience.

He said: “We’ve always been busy.

“We used to do 70 to 80 gigs a year, and after Oasis said they were getting back together, ticket sales went through the roof, and we’ve done around 100 gigs.

“People can’t afford it, and I’ve been there.

“If they can’t afford it, they can’t and I can’t force them to spend £30 on a ticket.

“It isn’t just our band that’s suffering.

“Live music is always the first to suffer, and if we don’t use the venues, we’ll lose them. It’s as simple as that.

“Then we’ll have nowhere to watch live music.”

The pair announced their cancellations on social media.

They wrote: “It’s with deep regret that we have been forced to cancel our show at Huddersfield Town Hall on 3 July 3 – the day before Oasis take to the stage to start their tour.

“We could make excuses up and try to come up with a scenario that makes us or the venue look good, but the real reason is a lack of sales.

“Last week, we had sold just 76 tickets for this show, which is nowhere near enough to make it a viable show financially.

“We have already spent over £1,000 on our own marketing campaign for this show, and then the venue has spent their own money on it as well.

“This is money that we won’t get back now, and is one of the reasons why we were urging you guys to buy tickets sooner rather than leaving it until the last minute.

“We’ve had several people asking us ‘what date will you cancel because I don’t want to pay for a hotel if it’s going to be cancelled’.

“Our answer to this is always, buy your tickets first and then book your accommodation nearer the time.

“At least then, we’d have more of an idea if people were coming along.

“Should we have gone ahead with it, we would both have lost thousands more in costs for staff, production, fuel and accommodation.

“We’re really sorry for any inconvenience caused by this, but there is nothing we can do unless we lose over £4,000 between ourselves and the venue should we have gone ahead with it.

“This is clearly not what we want to do.

“As for the reasons why ticket sales are so low on this, and some other shows, we’re not fully sure.

“However, later in the year, we are going to rebrand this show and drop the ‘As We Were’ name and revert back to it simply being ‘Oasish – The history of Oasis and beyond’.

“We think that the current name may not have connected with the public or even Oasis fans.

“As Oasish, we already have a big fan base and people know who we are, so we will be changing the name of this theatre show at some point this year.

“Again, massive apologies for this, and we’re really sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

Paul was already performing as Noel solo when he put out an ad for a new band member and found Phil.

He added: “Me and Phil get on really well, we have to.

“We’ve had a few run-ins, of course, but we hug it out at the end of the night.

“We’re massive Oasis fans and we really enjoy what we do.

“It’s better than digging holes in the road.”

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