Oasis marketing machine swings into pricey action - Kevin Buckle

A set of Oasis merchandising pins

This is just an extension of what has happened at recent stadium gigs, where the venue has been open the day before just so people can buy merchandise before the gig.

Oasis, however, have taken it to the next level with numerous exclusive vinyl pressings not available elsewhere and similarly a huge range of merchandise that is not available from their usual suppliers.

The shops are expected to be so busy that it is recommended you book a ticket to visit rather than just pop in.

An Oasis fan holds up a banner which reads "The great wait is over" in Cardiff, ahead of the first show in the band's long-awaited reunion tour which kicked off at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

There seems to be some confusion as to whether the shops will have items not available online and many of the items featured online say they are sold out. Some of the merchandise is in conjunction with Adidas, with shirts described as Originals x Oasis.

The same week that the Oasis tour was announced Avalanche was offered a wide range of new merchandise to add to the substantial amount we already had access to and we have kept these new items in stock ever since.

What is odd is that not only are many of the listings for the Adidas shirts saying they are sold out, but a good few of the shirts that we sell in the shop are showing as out of stock when we are having no stock issues at all. What is also interesting to see is that the very same shirts we are selling for £20 in the shop are £30 on their website.

The irony here is we often hear complaints about tour T-shirts being £40, as happened when Bruce Springsteen was in town and of course in that case we now have those very same shirts on sale as ex-tour for £20. By those standards £30 is a bargain but by any other criteria they are overpriced.

We do have a very nice set of six Oasis metal pin badges in their own box retailing for £20 which are official but not available from the band so I have certainly stocked up on those.

Oasis are by no means the only artists in town this August and it will be interesting to see what approach AC/DC, Sam Fender and Chappell Roan take to their merchandising. We are lucky to have exclusive designs from Butcher Billy for Chappell and while AC/DC may only be here for one night I’m confident their fans will be big spenders when it comes to buying rock music and merchandise.

I had a friend who worked on the AC/DC merch stall some years ago when they had two T-shirt designs at £30 each or two for £50. While they had ten thousand of each shirt to start with it wasn’t that long into the tour before they had to order more!

In other tour merchandise news Bravado, who are owned by Universal Music, are to upcycle over 400,000 unsold tour T-shirts and other merchandise. The items have been sent to Morocco where they will be broken down and respun into approximately 280,000 new 100 per cent recycled cotton blank T-shirts for use by their artists.

A fate the Oasis T-shirts will hope to avoid!