Oasis shows blamed for Edinburgh Festival Fringe ticket woes

The Herald Scotland

6 hours ago

And there are fears that the Fringe, which relies heavily on last-minute ticket sales, will be badly affected in August when the festival will clash for the first time with concerts at Murrayfield.
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The Fringe Society and venue operators are expected to launch eleventh-hour efforts to try to boost ticket sales in areas within easy reach of Edinburgh, as well as encourage concert-goers to take in festival shows.
Assembly runs several venues in the George Square area during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. (Image: Assembly)
Three Oasis shows and an AC/DC concert are expected to attract more than 290,000 ticket-holders in total to the home of Scottish rugby between August 9 and 21.
However major Fringe venues are reporting slower ticket sales compared to this time last year.
Oasis and AC/DC will be staging stadium shows at Murrayfield this summer during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. (Image: Jane Barlow/PA) There are concerns that the scheduling of the shows may have already put off many Fringe performers and regular attendees at the festival due to the impact they have had on demand to be in the city in August.
Some city centre hotels are charging upwards of £800 a room for the second Friday in August when Oasis will play the first of three shows.
The Pleasance Courtyard is one of the busiest Fringe venues. (Image: Neil Hanna) The cheapest available hostel or accommodation on August 12, when Oasis will play their final show in the city, is £200 for a bed.
One Fringe operator told The Herald: 'The last thing the Fringe needed was these concerts being staged in August.
'We are looking at a situation where thousands of people who have booked to stay in the city during the Fringe are going to be going nowhere near Fringe venues.
'These concerts are going to make it harder to book accommodation over the next few weeks and harder to get in and out of the city.'
Another long-time promoter said: 'The staging of these concerts in August doesn't just affect the dates when these shows are on at Murrayfield.
'They have affected the cost of accommodation throughout August, which is putting off people who have coming to the Fringe for years and usually see loads of shows when they are in the city.'
William Burdett-Coutts, founder of Assembly, the longest-running venue operator on the Fringe, told The Herald that its advance sales were down by 35 per cent year-on-year.
He said: 'We are constantly getting anecdotal feedback that people are finding it too expensive to visit Edinburgh for the festival, especially with the Oasis concerts that are on this year.
'Personally, I don't think they are a good thing. They are taking up a lot of days when the Fringe is on.
'Oasis can go on tour anytime and get the audience that they get. We are trying to attract people to Edinburgh to come to a festival which is all about introducing new talent and don't have the same level of exposure.
'I don't think these concerts are going to be beneficial to the overall festival as it's going to be really hard to get accommodation now.
'We will have to do more marketing of our shows to a local audience than we would normally do. At the end of the day, they will still be able to come.
'A lot of our ticket sales are very last minute. We probably only sell 20 per cent of our tickets before August. Anything that impacts on that period is really important.
'Our budgets are built on what we normally do, which is selling around half a million tickets. That's a major undertaking.
'The whole economy of the Fringe depends on ticket sales. People take the risk to come to Edinburgh with their shows on the basis that audiences are going to be there.'
Sam Gough, who leads the programming of Summerhall, one of the Fringe's biggest venues, said: 'I don't think that people who are coming to Edinburgh to see Oasis or AC/DC are not going to stay for more than a night. They will be in the stadium for around 5pm, they won't get any further than the west end and will be on trains the next day.
'I think the city will feel emptier on the days when these concerts on because of the number of people who are going to Murrayfield.
'I think our audiences are very different to some of the bigger venues who will probably be affected by these concerts way more.
'But I think it will affect the city and it has already affected the bigger picture of artists deciding whether they are coming to the Fringe.'
Pleasance director Anthony Alderson urged Oasis fans visiting Edinburgh for their concerts and local residents living near Murrayfield to take in the Fringe this summer.
He told The Herald: 'It is hard to imagine that any fan of Oasis, travelling to Edinburgh for the concert, won't want to also enjoy the world's greatest arts festival.
'We would encourage anybody attending the Oasis concerts to come and see shows at the Fringe. If you live in the west side of the city you may want to come and enjoy the Fringe to escape the noise and people. That whole of that side of Edinburgh will undoubtedly be affected.
'Concerts of this scale in a city that is already very busy will, of course, have an impact but it's difficult to currently see what that will be.
'What's important to note is there is no doubt that the rise in accommodation costs have an impact on visitors.
'We know this has a negative impact on the festival in terms of affordability for both artists and audiences.'
A spokesperson for the Fringe Society said it was planning a 'tactical marketing campaign' to encourage ticket-holders for the Murrayfield concerts to see Fringe shows while they are in Edinburgh.
Tourism bodies will be asked to help promote the Fringe to people staying in the city overnight, while transport operators will be asked to ensure they increase services at during pea
The spokesperson added: 'Each year the rhythm and pattern of ticket sales is unique and can be affected by a range of factors, including timing of early ticket sales, marketing efforts, individual venue programmes, and broader economic and social factors.'
Neil Ellis, chair of the Edinburgh Hotels Association, said: "Supply and demand will always dictate a destination's room rates around the world and we all have to accept that. Unfortunately for Oasis and AC/DC fans and Fringe-goers, the venue and promoters chose the August dates.
"We're sure that had they been playing outside of the Festival in a quieter period, rates for accommodation and essential travel costs to Edinburgh would be lower.
"Edinburgh is on the bucket-list of many people and the city offering is always improving in order to keep us there.
"From our fantastic array of hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants, world-renowned festivals, museums and visitor attractions, parks and green spaces, and an airport connecting over 160 destinations, we certainly think Edinburgh provides value all year round to suit every type of visitor."