Edenbridge Bonfire Society reveals infamous celebrity guy as Ticketmaster amid Oasis tour ‘fiasco’

An 11-metre-tall effigy of Ticketmaster will be burned at a town's annual bonfire celebrations this weekend.

The society has been poking fun at the famous and infamous for almost 30 years.

Following on from the 2023 effigy of Sadiq Khan depicted as a ULEZ camera, this year Edenbridge Bonfire Society have decided to move away from politics.

A spokesperson said they want "to show the world that it’s not just politicians who could be a target at their annual event."The 11-metre effigy of Ticketmaster was unveiled this morning before it is moved to become the centre piece at the Kent town’s annual bonfire celebrations.

Andrea Deans, one of the giant effigy creators, commented: “We wanted to remind people that it doesn’t always have to be politicians who we create for our annual event. 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 I 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.”

Reece Hook, another effigy creator, said: “In the 8 years I’ve been doing this we have done so many politicians, so this year we really wanted to do something different.

"Although our effigy includes Liam and Noel Gallagher, they are not our target, it is the corporate giant of Ticketmaster we have gone with this year. We are all big Oasis fans and wish them a very successful tour.”

Fans shared their frustrations at queuing for tickets for hours for the sell-out reunion tour before finding some tickets had more than doubled in price from around £148 to about £355 on the site in August.

An explanation by the Ticketmaster website about the “in-demand standing ticket” price said: “The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value.

“Tickets do not include VIP packages. Availability and pricing are subject to change.”

Ticketmaster previously told the PA news agency it does not set prices, and shared a link to its website where it says costs can be “fixed or market-based”.

It is believed that ticket prices are set by promoters, not artists.

Other contenders for our 2024 event included Sir Kier Starmer, Philip Schofield, P-Diddy and Mohammed Al-Fayed to name a few.

Many celebrity faces have been the effigy for the annual celebration, including Sadiq Khan, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, Katie Price, Lance Armstrong and Anne Robinson.

The burning of effigies is a traditional celebration of the 5th of November, particularly across Sussex.

Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been celebrating Bonfire Night for nearly 100 years and this year will see over 500 people participating in the torchlit parade through Edenbridge High Street.

The length of the procession will be 230m, the same as 2 lengths of a football pitch.

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