Attention, Gen Xers and Elder Millennials: Oasis is doing a reunion tour! Liam and Noel Gallagher aren’t looking back in anger (GONG!), but instead looking ahead at some sweet, sweet concert revenue. On Tuesday, the brothers announced that they’re putting the band back together, 15 years after that infamous 2009 fight backstage during a festival in Paris. The announcement was coupled with a statement that said, “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”
The reunion tour is set to happen next summer, with shows in the UK and Ireland scheduled for July and August. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, August 31.
Today is going to be the day Oasis finally get back together. After a 15-year split, brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher announced on Tuesday that their band Oasis will reform for a reunion tour.
“This is it, this is happening,” said a post on the Oasis’s social media accounts. The band will play 14 shows in the U.K. and Ireland next year, according to the announcement, including four dates in their native Manchester and four at London’s Wembley Stadium.
“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised,” stated a press release, which added that shows outside Europe will take place next year — a hint that North American gigs could be announced next.
Oasis was one of the most successful of the 1990s, selling an estimated 75 million records and playing to stadiums across the world. Both Gallagher brothers teased the announcement Monday, posting a short video to X showing a flickering “27.08.24” in the band’s famous logo font. Liam Gallagher posted on Sunday morning: “I never did like that word FORMER.”
The brothers were responsible for a string of hit albums and songs but were arguably just as well known for their off-stage antics, celebrity marriages and violent disagreements. The band formed in Manchester, northwest England, in 1991 and got a recording contract on the strength of a single gig in Glasgow, Scotland, two years later where they were third on the bill.
The band’s 1994 debut album, “Definitely Maybe,” still considered one of the greatest British guitar records, catapulted them to stardom and made them figureheads of a resurgence of guitar music that the U.K. press called “Britpop.” The follow-up album, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” cemented their star status with songs such as “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” which led to success and extensive touring across Europe and North America.
Both Gallaghers have built successful solo careers after Oasis. Liam recently played a string of arena shows to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Definitely Maybe,” while Noel has played with his band, High Flying Birds, since 2010 and released four albums. But while Gallaghers routinely play old Oasis songs at shows, for many fans it doesn’t capture the magic of the two brothers appearing together. The Gallaghers haven’t performed together since a backstage fight at a music festival in Paris in 2009.
A rapprochement between them has often seemed unlikely, with both men trading insults and barbs on social media and in interviews. But the past few weeks have seen a definite warming of relations. Noel paid his younger brother some compliments in an interview last week, praising his rasping vocals. “It’s the delivery or the tone of his voice and the attitude,” he said. He compared Liam’s voice to “10 shots of tequila on a Friday night” whereas his own was more like “half a Guinness on a Tuesday.”
The band’s reformation may have been prompted by other successful reunions of their 90s peers. Blur, Oasis’s rivals in a U.K. chart battle in 1995, reformed to play two dates last year at Wembley Stadium. The first Blur date sold out all 90,000 tickets in minutes. The Stone Roses, another Manchester band and a longstanding inspiration to the Gallaghers, reformed for a series of gigs in 2012 after a gap of 16 years.
I’ll admit that I’m really excited about this news. I was in 5th grade when “Definitely Maybe” came out and 6th grade when “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” was released. I remember listening to those albums, along with Bush’s “Sixteen Stone” over and over again on the school bus with friends. I am 100% the type of Elder Millennial who has drunkenly sang “Wonderwall” while out with friends in my younger days. I also had a short stretch in my mid-20s where I did “Don’t Look Back in Anger” as my karaoke song (because it’s really easy to sing lol).
And yeah, Liam and Noel are absolutely bonkers people with anger management issues, but I can’t help but think of them fondly despite all of the shenanigans and pure animosity that they directed towards one another. When I first texted Mr. Rosie that they were reuniting, his response was, “A year out? I bet you it doesn’t happen or the tour gets canceled halfway through in some spectacular way.” I can’t say he’s wrong. After all, a poet once asked, “How many special people change?” We’ll see what happens, but for now, I’d like to wish a very Happy Oasis Reunion Tour Day to all who celebrate!
Here is a video of Liam doing his best Roy Kent impression with a group of school kids:
“This is it, this is happening”
Tickets on sale this Saturday 31st August (????????8AM IST / ????????9AM BST)
Dates:
Cardiff Principality Stadium – 4th/5th July
Manchester Heaton Park – 11th/12th/19th/20th July
London Wembley Stadium – 25th/26th July & 2nd/3rd August
Edinburgh Scottish Gas… pic.twitter.com/5hRQ3sJihb— Oasis (@oasis) August 27, 2024
9am on here tomorrow pic.twitter.com/E6ij6WtLJ1
— Super Hams (@TheRstott) August 26, 2024
Photos credit: Taddei, Clicphoto, PacificCoastNews.com / Avalon, Getty
