Oasis have sent fans into a frenzy as they are set to reunite for the first time in 15 years with a £50million reunion tour around the UK and Ireland.
After weeks of growing speculation about a comeback, Noel and Liam Gallagher have finally put their 15-year feud on ice to announce they will be performing together again 34 years after their first gig.
On Tuesday, the iconic Britpop band ended all speculation by confirming a string of concerts – which will not be televised – in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin for next summer.
The band have sold over 75 million records worldwide, making them one of the most successful of all time.
As they prepare for their mammoth comeback, we take a look at the Oasis’ best moments and how they made the history books.
Oasis have sent fans into a frenzy as they are set to reunite for the first time in 15 years with a £50million reunion tour around the UK and Ireland
Debut album
Oasis signed to independent record label Creation Records in 1993 and released their record-setting debut album Definitely Maybe the following year. It topped the UK Albums Chart
The band formed in 1991 with frontman Liam asking his brother Noel to join the band a few months later.
Oasis signed to independent record label Creation Records in 1993 and released their record-setting debut album Definitely Maybe the following year.
It topped the UK Albums Chart and quickly became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time.
Knebworth
Oasis had only released their 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe and their smash 1995 follow-up (What’s the Story) Morning Glory at the time of Knebworth in 1996
The gigs saw Liam and Noel – as well as Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan and Tony McCarroll – perform for two nights in front of an audience of 125,000
Oasis had only released their 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe and their smash 1995 follow-up (What’s the Story) Morning Glory at the time of Knebworth in 1996.
The gigs saw Liam and Noel – as well as Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan and Tony McCarroll – perform for two nights in front of an audience of 125,000 each time, the largest outdoor concerts in UK history at the time.
Noel previously admitted he was too ‘f***ing arrogant’ to enjoy the famous concert, which they later named their documentary on.
He said: ‘I was so f***ing arrogant at the time that it didn’t really register. Genuinely. It’s only since Supersonic (Oasis’s 2016 documentary) and this film that you try and put yourself back in there and you get goosebumps.’
‘I’m not sure there are any bands who had that lift-off like we did. We were still in the same circumstances as our audience, almost. It is a snapshot of a band, of its zenith. It is a great moment for the band.
‘Morning Glory (Oasis’s second album, in 1995) hadn’t really taken off. We were loaded but we hadn’t really got paid. You know, the f***ing chimps hadn’t turned up and tigers and fur coats.’
Brit-pop chart rivalry with Blur
As fans eagerly awaited the release of Oasis’ second album, a chart rivalry formed between the band and Blur (pictured Graham Coxon Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Alex James)
As fans eagerly awaited the release of Oasis’ second album, a chart rivalry formed between the band and Blur.
Blur had found success in 1994 with Parklife and the two bands had been amicable with one another up until April in 1995.
Blur frontman Damon Albarn said a rivalry began to form when Oasis scored their first number 1 with Some Might Say.
He told the NME: ‘I went to their celebration party, y’know, just to say “Well done”. And Liam came over and, like he is, he goes, “Number f****n’ One!”, right in my face. So I thought, “OK we’ll see…”.’
They decided to compete with Oasis in the charts and decided to release their single Country House on the same day – August 14 1995 – as their rivals put out Roll With It.
NME called it the ‘biggest chart showdown’ with Blur’s single Country House coming out top in the charts selling 274,000 to Oasis’ 216,000.
But the chart battle only intensified with the release of their albums a month apart.
Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? spent ten weeks at number one on the British charts.
It became one of the best-selling albums of all time and the biggest-selling album in the UK of the 1990s.
Oasis at the BRITs
The Oasis stars both have had a long history with the BRIT Awards over the years, full of many infamous drunken moments (pictured in 1996)
The Oasis stars both have had a long history with the BRIT Awards over the years, full of many infamous drunken moments.
In 1996, while accepting an award for Best New Band, Liam grabbed the microphone from award presenter Micheal Hutchence, and said: ‘Right, first thing first. I heard Michael was going to give me a slap. So come on…’
Before Noel savagely added: ‘Has-beens shouldn’t be dishing out awards to gonna-bes.’
The warring brothers also famously mocked their Britpop rivals Blur by performing a rendition of their hit Parklife at the 1996 ceremony.
Then as the 2001 BRITs when handing an award to U2, Noel aimed a dig at band A1, saying: ‘This award ceremony over the years has been accused of not having a sense of humour, but when you see A1 winning best newcomer, you know that someone’s taking the p*** somewhere.’
The last concert in 2009
Noel and Liam Gallagher have not shared the same stage since a backstage fight in 2009
The group’s long hiatus can be traced to an extraordinary behind-the-scenes brawl between the Gallaghers at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris on August 28, 2009.
Just before they were due on stage, founding brothers Noel and Liam traded blows in a vicious fight which saw Liam smash Noel’s guitar after hearing he was quitting.
Medical staff and security were called, and Noel confirmed the gig was off – which marked the official end of Oasis who at that point had sold 50million records.
After the Oasis gig was called off, Noel posted a statement on the group’s official website saying the rift with his brother Liam had become unbearable.
How the Daily Mail newspaper reported the news of Oasis breaking up on August 29, 2009
Many in the crowd at the Rock en Seine festival on August 28, 2009 thought it was a joke until screens confirmed the Oasis set had been cancelled due to ‘an altercation within the band’
Noel said he was leaving ‘with some sadness and great relief.’ He added: ‘People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer’.
In another statement a few days later, entitled ‘Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere’, Noel added: ‘The details are not important and of too great a number to list.
‘But I feel you have the right to know that the level of verbal and violent intimidation towards me, my family, friends and comrades has become intolerable.
‘And the lack of support and understanding from my management and band mates has left me with no other option than to get me cape and seek pastures new.’
It was the second gig Oasis had cancelled in a week, after they pulled out of the V Festival in Chelmsford the previous weekend, saying Liam was suffering from viral laryngitis.
Speaking two years later in 2011, Liam told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Noel was acting like a d***, I was acting like a d***. Two d***heads in a room – f***ing hell. Band over.’
Noel said in a press conference, also in 2011, that Liam was ‘quite violent’, adding: ‘Liam does the ‘F*** you and f*** you and f*** you’ and he kind of storms out of the dressing room.
‘On the way out he picked up a plum and he threw it across the dressing room and it smashed against the wall. Part of me wishes it did end like that, that would have been a great headline: ‘Plum Throws Plum and Finishes F***ing Oasis’…
‘For whatever reason he went to his own dressing room and he came back with a guitar and he started wielding it like an axe – he nearly took my face off with it.
‘And at that point the tour manager came in and said, ‘Five minutes!’. I got in the car and I sat there for five minutes and I just said f*** it, I can’t do it anymore.’
Reunion
Announcing the Oasis Live 25 tour, the legendary band said: ‘The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised’
Excitement reached fever pitch on Sunday after the pair shared the same video, written in the Oasis style, teasing an announcement for Tuesday 8am.
The same poster appeared on big screens as Liam finished his headline slot at Reading Festival on Sunday.
The 14-show tour will run from July 4 to August 17, kicking off at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium before the brothers pack out Heaton Park in Manchester, Wembley in London, Murrayfield in Edinburgh and Croke Park in Dublin.
Despite speculation that Oasis will be on the bill at Glastonbury 2025, it’s understood the band will not be performing at Worthy Farm. However, plans are underway for Oasis to go to other continents outside of Europe later next year.
Announcing the Oasis Live 25 tour alongside the brothers’ first picture together in years, the legendary band said: ‘The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.’
The Oasis website crashed immediately after the announcement as fans were sent into a frenzy. The reunion comes a day before the date the band split on August 28 2009.
Tickets to see the Don’t Look Back In Anger hitmakers will go on sale in the UK from 9am on August 31, while Dublin tickets will be available from 8am on the same day.
It’s understood the brothers buried the hatchet during a late night phone call to embark on a £50million reunion tour.
The announcement comes before tracks from the first recording session for Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe are released on Friday, marking its 30-year anniversary.
Unheard versions of songs including Live Forever, Cigarettes & Alcohol and Rock ‘N’ Roll Star were taken from their first recording session as a signed band, at Monnow Valley Studio in Rockfield, Monmouthshire.
The recordings were scrapped before the band re-recorded the album at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall.
