Excitement mounts as the Oasis reunion tour prepares to kick off in Cardiff
LONDON — Oasis is due to take to the stage in Cardiff, Wales on Friday, kicking off a hotly, and somewhat anxiously, anticipated reunion tour.
The return of the Britpop-era rockers after a 16-year hiatus is a major moment for fans. Will it be a storming success? Definitely maybe.
Predictions are tricky when it comes to Noel and Liam Gallagher, the sparring siblings who give Oasis its charisma, and its volatile chemistry.
'That's one of the attractions about Oasis — they bring this element of risk,' said author and music journalist John Aizlewood. He said the 'alternative aura that they have cultivated with the age-old pop story of fractious brothers' is part of the band's appeal.
Unless the brothers' combustible relationship derails proceedings, two nights at Cardiff's 70,000-capacity Principality Stadium on Friday and Saturday raise the curtain on a 19-date Live '25 tour in the U.K. and Ireland. Then come stops in North America, South America, Asia and Australia, ending in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Nov. 23.
Founded in the working-class streets of Manchester in 1991, Oasis released its debut album, 'Definitely Maybe,' in 1994 and became one of the dominant British acts of the 1990s, releasing eight U.K. No. 1 albums and producing hits including 'Wonderwall,' 'Champagne Supernova,' 'Roll With It' and 'Don't Look Back in Anger.'
The band's sound was fueled by singalong rock choruses and the combustible chemistry between guitarist-songwriter Noel Gallagher — a Beatles and glam rock-loving musician with a knack for memorable tunes — and younger brother Liam, a frontman of compelling swagger and style.
Then and since, the brothers have often traded barbs — onstage, in the studio and in interviews. Liam once called Noel 'tofu boy,' while Noel branded his brother 'the angriest man you'll ever meet. He's like a man with a fork in a world of soup.'
Oasis finally split in 2009, with Noel Gallagher quitting the band after a backstage dustup with Liam at a festival near Paris.
The Gallagher brothers, now aged 58 and 52, haven't performed together since, though both regularly play Oasis songs at their solo gigs.
They long resisted pressure to reunite, even with the promise of a multimillion-dollar payday — though Liam sounded more open to the idea. The singer told the Associated Press in 2019 that Noel 'thinks I'm desperate to get the band back together for money. But I didn't join the band to make money. I joined the band to have fun and to see the world.'
Now they have agreed on a tour that will see them joined — if reports are right — by former Oasis members Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs and Gem Archer on guitars, bassist Andy Bell and drummer Joey Waronker.
The announcement of the U.K. tour in August sparked a ticket-buying frenzy, complete with error messages, hours-long online queues, dashed hopes and anger at prices that surged at the last minute. Some fans who waited online for hours at the Ticketmaster site complained that they ended up paying 355 pounds (US$485) for regular standing tickets instead of the expected 148 pounds ($202).
The ticketing troubles sparked questions in Britain's Parliament, where Arts Minister Chris Bryant criticized 'practices that see fans of live events blindsided by price hikes.' Britain's competition regulator has since threatened Ticketmaster — which sold some 900,000 Oasis tickets — with legal action.
Tickets for the U.K. shows sold out in hours, with some soon offered on resale websites for as much as 6,000 pounds ($7,800). That suggests major pent-up demand, both from the original fans — a male-dominated cohort now well into middle age — and from a younger generation.
No plans have been announced for Oasis to record any new music, and the tour is being presented as a one-off.
Aizlewood said it's an opportunity for Oasis to 'tend the legacy' of the band, and remind people of the power of the Oasis brand.
'There should be a sense of huge joy and life affirmation about these shows. And I think if they can just play it right, then that can be a massive burnishing of their legacy,' he said.
'(There is) this enduring love for Oasis — and love means money.'
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
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