Nearly 16 years since the group’s initial breakup, English rock sensation Oasis recently embarked on its highly-anticipated reunion tour. The band kicked it off with back-to-back shows on July 4th and 5th at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in Wales, and according to the BBC, bars around the venue were flooded with thirsty patrons. Perhaps unsurprisingly, fans drank a jaw-dropping amount of beer, with bars collectively reporting 811,000 pints sold over the two-day period.
Both concerts were completely sold out, and approximately 74,500 fans attended each show. If every pint in the city center was served to concert-goers (which hopefully wasn’t the case) that equates to roughly 5.5 pints per person.
As trade body UK Hospitality reports, the two shows generated over £4 million ($5.3 million) for venues in Cardiff’s city centre, with an average of £7,385 ($9,909) in beer sold per establishment. That marks a 56 percent sales increase compared to the previous weekend.
“This summer’s Oasis reunion tour has been highly anticipated not just by fans, but some might say also for hospitality businesses,” chair of UK Hospitality Kate Nicholls said in the report. “The kick-off shows in Cardiff provided hotels, pubs, bars and restaurants with a real Champagne Supernova and much-needed boost to trade, representing one of the most profitable weekends for the sector in the city so far this year.”
The news arrives slightly over a year after the BBC reported that hospitality businesses in Cardiff were struggling to survive. As such, many hospitality workers rejoiced over the profitable weekend and are now hopeful that future events will bring in similarly-sized crowds.
“Cardiff seems to be a very trendy place for artist[s] to come and it’s huge for us to get your name out there and make sure that you’re making money,” Tom Hughes, assistant manager of O’Neill’s on Cardiff’s St Mary Street, told the BBC. “You want people to want to come here, so knowing that there’s big names in the stadium and people choose your bar before they go there is great.”
Oasis is currently in the midst of a five-show stint in Manchester. The band is then set to perform in London, Scotland, and Ireland before touring in North America, South America, Australia, and Asia.
“Landmark events like this deliver a huge boost to hospitality through the trading opportunities they present,” Nicholls said. “We hope to see this continue throughout the remaining Oasis shows over the next few weeks.”
