Effigies of Noel and Liam Gallagher burnt at the stake as fallout from Oasis ticket sale takes a fiery turn

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By ( Louder ) published

The Gallagher Brothers' effigies were burned at the annual bonfire night celebrations in Edenbridge, England

Effigies of Liam and Noel Gallagher on fire in Edenbridge
(Image credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Effigies of Liam and Noel Gallagher have been burnt at the stake in Edenbridge, a small town in Kent, England, about 30 miles south of London.

The Oasis pair were set on fire during the town's annual bonfire night festivities, which celebrate the failure of the so-called Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, a group of persecuted Roman Catholic activists, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Palace of Westminster – commonly known as the Houses Of Parliament – and assassinate the Protestant English King James.

Traditionally, the Edenbridge Bonfire Society has burnt effigies of unpopular politicians during the celebrations – previous recipients of the honour include Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Liz Truss and Saddam Hussein – but celebrity 'guys' have also featured regularly, with effigies of footballer Wayne Rooney, drugs-cheat cyclist Lance Armstrong and disgraced filmmaker Harvey Weinstein amongst those meeting a fiery end.

This year it was the Gallaghers' turn to be included in the celebrity conflagration, a reaction to the sale of tickets for Oasis's UK reunion shows, a procedure marked by fan fury over dynamic pricing and reported technical issues.

"We wanted to remind people that it doesn’t always have to be politicians who we create for our annual event," say the Edenbridge Bonfire Society on Facebook. "We also wanted to appeal to a wider audience. The Ticketmaster ticket fiasco has affected a lot of different age groups, such is the appeal of Oasis, and we know many fans were very unhappy at being ripped off by Ticketmaster when they discovered the price of the tickets. No one likes being taken advantage of by these big companies.

"Who is the face of Ticketmaster? Even we don’t know and probably not a face many would recognise so we went with the ‘money-emoji’ as we know everyone can connect with that. We wanted to show the Ticketmaster for what it is – a money-making machine. And just to clarify, we love Oasis, and added them to the design purely because they highlighted the dynamic ticket pricing and brought all this to light. They are just puppets in this, not the effigy."

The dynamic pricing model was abandoned for sales of tickets for shows in North America and Australia, with the Gallagher Brothers distancing themselves from the decision and their management saying, "It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable."

Last week, Oasis were reported to be cancelling 50,000 tickets for its UK dates that had been resold on secondary ticketing websites like StubHub and Viagogo.

Oasis: Live '25 Tour

Jul 04: Cardiff Principality Stadium, UK
Jul 05: Cardiff Principality Stadium, UK
Jul 11: Manchester Heaton Park, UK
Jul 12: Manchester Heaton Park, UK
Jul 16: Manchester Heaton Park, UK
Jul 19: Manchester Heaton Park, UK
Jul 20: Manchester Heaton Park, UK
Jul 25: London Wembley Stadium, UK
Jul 26: London Wembley Stadium, UK
Jul 30: London Wembley Stadium, UK
Aug 02: London Wembley Stadium, UK
Aug 03: London Wembley Stadium, UK
Aug 08: Edinburgh Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, UK
Aug 09: Edinburgh Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, UK
Aug 12: Edinburgh Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, UK
Aug 16: Dublin Croke Park, Ireland
Aug 17: Dublin Croke Park, Ireland

Aug 24: Toronto Rogers Stadium, ON
Aug 25: Toronto Rogers Stadium, ON
Aug 28: Chicago Soldier Field, IL
Aug 31: East Rutherford MetLife Stadium, NJ
Sep 01: East Rutherford MetLife Stadium, NJ
Sep 06: Los Angeles Rose Bowl Stadium, NJ
Sep 07: Los Angeles Rose Bowl Stadium, NJ
Sep 12: Mexico City Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico
Sep 13: Mexico City Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico

Sep 27: London Wembley Stadium, UK
Sep 28: London Wembley Stadium, UK

Oct 31: Melbourne Marvel Stadium, Australia
Nov 01: Melbourne Marvel Stadium, Australia
Nov 04: Melbourne Marvel Stadium, Australia
Nov 07: Sydney Accor Stadium, Australia
Nov 08: Sydney Accor Stadium, Australia

Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.