Oasis fans splash out THOUSANDS on merchandise and cut short holidays to attend first show in 'electric' Cardiff - as one devotee declares reunion gig is 'bigger than his wedding day'
More than 75,000 fans will watch history be made as Noel, 58, and Liam, 52, will appear for the first time on stage together in 16 years at the Welsh capital's Principality Stadium.
Patrick Foley and his 10-year-old son, Alex, who is a self-proclaimed superfan, had travelled from Stroud to be there for the 'monumental' moment.
Alex said: 'I have been a fan for six to seven years, when my dad played a song I just fell in love with them, I'll remember this forever.
'I would rather be here than the Man United Champions league final, it's a once in a lifetime.
'Everyone at school thinks I'm really cool. I woke up at 3am because I couldn't sleep I was so excited to see Liam.
Despite being a longstanding superfan, it is Patrick's first gig and said: 'I wouldn't rather be with anyone else than my son.'
Standing next to his wife Holly, 31, Welsh superfan Jarreth, 33, told MailOnline: 'This is bigger than my wedding day. Well I can't say that, it's the top three. It goes wedding day, birth of our daughter Lila, who is named after the Oasis song, and then today.
Holly added: 'The atmosphere here in Cardiff is electric. There's never been a build up like this before, like this is way bigger than Taylor Swift when she came to Cardiff.
'We said that if Oasis ever got back together we would have to be there.'
The superfan couple spent more than £450 on Oasis merchandise, with two T-shirts and a bucket hat.
Glen, 42, a window cleaner from Essex who charges £1,000 as a part-time professional Liam Gallagher look-a-like, has been inundated with overexcited fans taking selfies.
He told MailOnline: 'I got up this morning with a buzz. I think it's going to take off for the next three or four months, it's going to be massive, it's going to be Supersonic.
'I was here last July watching Noel at Cardiff Castle and you never would have thought a year later we'd be back here watching Oasis in the main stadium.
'You'd never believe it, it was just getting longer and longer, it was getting to the point but they're in their prime to do it now, they're not too old.
'There's been nothing like Oasis since the nineties so it's nice that the next generation get to see them, it's the perfect time for them.
'This is going to be one of the biggest things that has happened in our lifetimes. This is going to be something that people have never experienced before
'I got to see them in Nebworth in 2000, when I was 17. People genuinely think I'm Liam Gallagher so I've been taking a few selfies.'
He continued: 'I've got Manchester next week, Wembley and then LA. I did my first lookalike event yesterday, I did a photoshoot in the Marstens pub in Cardiff, I've always turned it down.
'But now obviously they're back I have to do it, everyone is loving Oasis at the moment so it's nice to help people get in the spirit, so I'll be busy all summer. They're fun to be fair and it's good I'm going to be gigging around.'
Another fan, Luciana Barba, 44, had spent £1,000 to travel from Argentina to watch Oasis on Friday and Saturday night, admitting she had spent up to £3,000 on merchandise.
'Today is the day,' she told MailOnline.
Mental health workers Hazel, 26, and Neil, 58, were the only ones in their office to get tickets.
Hazel said: 'The Ticketmaster thing is a nightmare. When you think £500 for a ticket, you think I could go on holiday for that like I could have gone and got an Airbnb for a weekend. So a lot of people were hesitant when they got the ticket but we said yes.
'So the people that hesitated didn't get them. The key is to never hesitate about this, it's a once in a lifetime, history is being made, why wouldn't you be here.'
Meanwhile, Lifelong fan and mother-of-two from Cardiff, Kate, 44, wore a pair of shoes she bought 30 years ago when she was 16 for her birthday.
She said: 'I never thought as a kid I would be able to wear these shoes and get to see them, it makes me really emotional.'
'My dreams have come true.
'It's just an incredible opportunity. It's a day we always hoped we have but never believed we would. To be part of it is incredible. Especially the first day because who knows what will happen later on, I hope they can hold it together and there will be a second night. But it's historical the first night.
'I'm so happy Cardiff can put on a day like this and the weather has turned up, we're so proud they chose us to start off the tour. They have so many Welsh fans, I said to my son, 'You won't see as many gazelle sambas here ever again in your life'.'
Kate continued: 'Our kids have known Oasis since they were born, the music has always lived on, we know every word to Supersonic the documentary.
'There's a lovely atmosphere in town. People were so excited to know they were coming back, all the ticket hassle seems like such a long time ago last July, I can't believe the day is finally here.
'To mentally prepare, we have been watching all the documentaries, listening to all the old albums, digging out my old trainers. It brings back memories, their music is very present but it brings back so many memories of us growing up. Oasis took us through exams, A-Levels, university and all those memories come flooding back when you hear their songs and it's just going to be magic when they walk on stage.
'I'm getting emotional now. It's a wonderful day I just hope Cardiff puts on a good a show as the boys do tonight. Well, they're men, but they behave like boys sometimes!'
Jasmine, 18, had travelled seven hours from Newcastle with her school friend Josie, 18, and told MailOnline: 'I always said I won't die until Oasis come back together, I know I have the music taste of a divorced dad.
'I actually couldn't sleep last night. It was like Christmas ever, I was tossing and turning all night. Everyone is dressed like Liam Gallagher. And it's the proper British way of going to Whetherspoons before the show, it's buzzing here.
'I would say we're the youngest people here apart from little kids with their dads. Our parents are here, they are waiting in the pub while we're there.
'They think we're ridiculous, my mum gave me a hug like she's never going to see me again.
'Our friends are really jealous, we were the only ones that managed to get tickets which were so expensive but it was so worth it.
'It's the highlight of our lives, if they fall out after this, we don't care, we've seen them.'
'We've seen Liam Gallagher's son, Gene, live up in Newcastle for £11 and that was really good, it was a small band but it was really good, I got a signed t-shirt and everything.'
Elsewhere, Autumn, 26, surprised her parents Gareth, 52, and Karen, 47, with tickets as she told MailOnline: 'I didn't actually tell them that I had a presale code so I made them queue up with everyone else, just to torment them and then I surprised them.
'We're all superfans. Oasis is the reason why I moved to Manchester, just to be part of the scene up there. We're from the Welsh valleys originally.'
She added: 'I've spent over £200 on merchandise but I've been saving because I knew I wanted to buy things, it's once in a lifetime, it's not often you get to say you saw their first show back and it's electric here, I've never seen Cardiff with so many people here.'
David Griffin, 56, a postman said of his attendance: 'We flew back from our holiday in Bosnia to come here. I always promised her that if they ever played again, I would take her. I mean she's had no choice, she's had to listen to it for 21 years.'
His daughter, Chloe Griffin, 21, said: 'I've grown up hearing it from every corner of my house so to actually be here, I can't believe it.
Their friend Richard Ellis, 55, an aerospace engineer: 'When we last saw him back in the nineties, Liam had a bit of an old school attitude spitting out larger and that which I'm not sure he'll have now, he's all clean living. But we've matured a bit since then, we were crowd surfing back then which I'm not sure will be happening.
'Oasis absolutely love Cardiff, the only time I've seen the city like this is when Michael Jackson came, but even then it wasn't like that. Today is special, it feels different.'
Elsewhere, a group of friends from Paris - Antione Bordeau, Clement Santoro and Alexandre Bordeau - had spent £1,300 each to attend the opening night before leaving the next day.
They paid an extra £90 on the Oasis collaboration with Adidas tracksuit tops.
Clement, 30, said: 'We love the British people here, they have been so nice to us, everyone the bus drivers, the security guards. We love Oasis and we love the Welsh. We are experiencing proper Britain.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Thousands in Zagreb for Croatian nationalist singer's 'record breaking' concert
ZAGREB, July 5 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people flocked to Zagreb of Saturday to attend a show by controversial Croatian nationalist rock singer Marko Perkovic Thompson, which was being billed as the world's largest-ever paid concert. Police said more than 450,000 tickets had been sold for the concert at the Zagreb Hippodrome. Most of the streets in the Zagreb city centre were closed for traffic and some 6,523 policemen had been deployed. Thompson, who has had concerts banned in several European countries including the Netherlands, Switzerland and Bosnia, is accused by critics of flirting with the ideology and iconography of Croatia's Nazi-backed World War Two Ustashe government. The singer, who takes his nickname from the U.S. Thompson submachine gun and rose to popularity in the 1990s during and after the war that followed break-up of Yugoslavia, rejects accusations that his songs glorify the Nazi-backed state. Historians say the Ustashe systematically persecuted and murdered Jews, Serbs and Roma between 1941 and 1945. Thompson has previously said that his songs simply represent a love of God, family, homeland and people. His fans, many young and carrying or wearing Croatian flags, agreed. "I expect it to be good, great fun, lots of people and an unforgettable experience," said concert-goer Josip Gelenger.
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
Pride in London2025: Thousands line streets to watch parade
The UK's biggest LGBTQ+ event took place on Saturday, with tens of thousands of people on the streets of central Pride in London parade featured dancing and rainbow flags as the celebration began at noon under cool and cloudy estimate more than 30,000 participants from across 500 organisations will take part in the capital's annual Pride crowds watched the brightly-coloured procession as it passed from Hyde Park Corner to its destination in Whitehall.
The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
LGBT artists decry Supreme Court ruling as tens of thousands turn out for rainy London Pride parade
As tens of thousands gathered in London for the capital's annual Pride parade, LGBT artists decried the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman and expressed fears trans people are being 'villainised more than ever.' At a rainy Pride in London parade, the mayor of London Sadiq Khan shouted 'happy pride' and thousands of people walked through central London, alongside staff at The Independent, the official news partner for the event. Months after the UK Supreme Court ruled on the definition of a woman, those at the London event, including Olly Alexander, writer Shon Faye and the lead actor in the BBC drama What It Feels Like For A Girl, Ellis Howard, criticised the judgment. Meanwhile, youth demand protesters blocked the parade route wearing Palestine flags. There were shouts for 'trans rights now' as the engines roared and rain started to fall on Saturday afternoon. American pop singer Chaka Khan is headlining the event that saw around 500 organisations file from Hyde Park Corner, through Piccadilly Circus, and on to Whitehall Place. Former Years And Years singer Alexander said: 'Trans people right now, they need our support and love more than ever, they're being villainised, demonised in the press, by a lot of the media, and trans people they're just like us… they're you, they're me. 'They deserve the same respect, the same rights, the same privileges, same opportunities, and that's why pride is so important this year.' The solo artist and Eurovision 2024 contestant added: 'There's been a real backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and that's been going on for years, and I think we're in a bit of a swing, that's going against where we were maybe five years ago. 'We've had the Supreme Court ruling and I feel like a lot of trans people are scared, rightfully scared, they don't understand… what their lives are going to look like.' In April the Supreme Court ruled that the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Before the march began Shon Faye, author of Love in Exile and The Transgender Issue, said 'we've just seen an unprecedented attack on queer rights and trans rights across the world'. She said: 'For the trans community in particular here in the UK, we've seen an onslaught of misinformation, attacks in the media, and unfortunately, the roll back of human rights in the courts. 'I think (pride) is more important than ever – I think a lot of trans people have been made to feel afraid in public space and pride this year is about taking back public space, and showing what we're not going to be silenced, and we're not going to be intimidated.' Asked what she hoped would change, Faye said: 'I feel like it's not a one year change deal… movements move in generations, I think what we have to do now is accept the reality of the situation we're in and we have to work together with other groups, within the LGBT community and outside it, to really start forming strong coalitions in order to fight this stuff. 'I think where we're going in the UK, unfortunately, this rightward turn is going to continue for some time. The people together are powerful.' She added: 'I think the reality is what some of these attacks are designed to do is exhaust us… we become very focused and frightened and then sometimes it's easier to retreat in and the reality is we need to do the opposite of that – we need to be willing to work with people who aren't necessarily like us'. Howard played Paris Lees in the BBC dramatisation of her memoir and, like Alexander and Faye, was supporting trans rights charity Not A Phase at the parade. He said that 'we're in an incredibly precarious political time' and said pride this year is 'more important than ever'. The actor added: 'I think it's so, so important that we show up as queers, as allies, and we celebrate. Joy is an act of resistance. 'I hope it shows queers of all ages that we stand with you, we are for you, and we love you'. He added: 'The recent Supreme Court ruling concerns me, the lack of proper tangible support from our Government concerns me, the lack of funding to amazing organisations like Not A Phase really, really concerns me. 'But honestly, I look around, I see stuff like this, I see what grassroots activism can do, and the power that that can have'. A YouGov poll released ahead of the event found 67 per cent of people in the UK believe the country is inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, and 60 per cent would not welcome a shift towards more negative attitudes. Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall, which commissioned the survey, said despite the findings 'we know many LGBTQ+ people do not feel this in their neighbourhoods and workplaces'. He added: 'In policy terms, the reality is different too. The UK has dropped sharply down the global leaderboard for LGBTQ+ rights.' This year, the UK fell to its lowest-ever ranking for LGBTI human rights, an annual report found. This was because of the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, said the ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Map, which has run since 2009.
