www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/oasis-reunion-and-wembley-gigs-next-year-is-that-definitely-maybe-c2spw6wm3Oasis reunion and Wembley gigs next year … is that definitely, maybe?
Noel and Liam Gallagher appear to have settled their differences and, if the truce holds, will play massive concerts in London and at Manchester’s Heaton Park in 2025
And so Sally, and indeed everybody else, must wait only a bit longer: 15 years to the week that Oasis played their last gig, rumours are swirling that finally, seriously this time, one of Britain’s biggest bands could be reforming.
Industry insiders are adamant that next summer will see Noel and Liam Gallagher reunite on the same stage for the first time since the V Festival in Stafford on August 22, 2009.
Cancel next year’s holiday plans, figure out the childcare, save the pennies — Oasis look set to take over Manchester and London in the summer of 2025 with multiple vast gigs planned at Heaton Park and Wembley Stadium respectively. One rumour suggests the latter venue is booked for ten nights, meaning the eight-gig record set by Taylor Swift this year will survive a mere 12 months.
The band previously performed at Manchester City’s football ground in 1996
There are also murmurings that a Glastonbury headliner slot may be added to the schedule, meaning that 30 years after the release of their second album, 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, turned them into global rock stars, the country will once again be gripped by the power and drama of arguably, and argumentatively, the nation’s most famous brothers.
Their frosty relationship certainly seems to be thawing. In the years since the night Liam damaged one of his elder brother’s guitars during a backstage altercation in Paris and Noel quit, bringing to an end the band that made them millions, the siblings have exchanged various hostile words. “A sad little dwarf,” said Liam about Noel. “I liked my Mum until she gave birth to Liam,” quipped Noel. The feud was real and the anger was volatile — but last week that seemed to be changing.
In a record label video released on Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, their debut album, Noel was uncharacteristically complimentary about Liam. “When I would sing a song, it would sound good. When he sung it, it sounded great,” said Noel of his younger brother. He went on to say: “I can’t sing Cigarettes & Alcohol, Rock’n’Roll Star and all that. I don’t have the same attitude as him. My voice is half a Guinness on a Tuesday — it’s all right. Liam’s is ten shots of tequila on a Friday.”
The Gallagher brothers, left and right, with their bandmates, Paul Arthurs, Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll, in 1993
The Gallagher brothers, left and right, with their bandmates, Paul Arthurs, Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll, in 1993
JAMES FRY/GETTY IMAGES
This is some contrast to an interview five years ago when Noel said, “I don’t listen to [Liam’s] albums because I can’t stand his voice. It’s unsophisticated music for unsophisticated people made by an unsophisticated man.”
That was then, though. Last week Noel was praising his estranged brother’s career. “What he did was inspire the kids at the front to do something, do you know what I mean? ‘If he can do it, I can do it.’ And he’s still doing that now.”
• Definitely Maybe at 30: every song ranked
But then Oasis have never really gone away. At the Reading and Leeds festivals this week, Liam ends a sold-out 12-date arena tour that has seen him play Definitely Maybe to enraptured crowds. Since the split, both men have enjoyed success with solo projects, but it was always the Oasis songs they played that got the strongest reactions. At Glastonbury this year, Don’t Look Back In Anger was played over the speakers before Coldplay came on, and the Oasis track received the biggest singalong of the night.
Liam Gallagher has been performing without his brother — including on the main stage at Leeds Festival on Friday
Because Oasis are far from a relic that appeals only to those old enough to remember CDs. Despite splitting back when Gordon Brown was prime minister, the band have ratcheted up a huge fanbase among teenagers who were not born when the Gallaghers were in their pomp. Oasis have 21 million monthly listeners on Spotify, compared with 11 million for their erstwhile Britpop rivals Blur. No wonder they feel confident in booking ten Wembley gigs compared with Blur’s two last summer. Oasis were huge back then, and they still are.
Formed in 1991, Oasis tore up the dreary British music scene with their pummelling rock’n’roll, the soundtrack to Tony Blair’s Cool Britannia and a nostalgic glow nobody wants to leave behind. The squabbling brothers at the band’s heart became a national obsession to rival the royal family. Released in 1994, Definitely Maybe became Britain’s fastest-selling debut album, while a staggering 2.5 million people applied for tickets for their two dates at Knebworth in summer 1996.
Oasis were at the heart of “Cool Britannia” during Tony Blair’s premiership
The Gallaghers have yet to comment, leaving fans to speculate on the reasons for the reunion. Maybe songwriter Noel envied his brother’s recent tour, where Liam sang the songs Noel had written but Noel was not there to take the acclaim — and Liam’s voice sounded flawless. Perhaps it is something Sir Keir Starmer can take credit for: the band last played together when there was a Labour government in power — might they just have been biding their time?
• Noel Gallagher on 30 years of Definitely Maybe
It is also worth noting that last year Noel and his second wife, Sarah MacDonald, divorced, with reports putting her settlement as high as £20 million. MacDonald’s relationship with her brother-in-law was almost as fractious as her former husband’s. When Liam played Glastonbury in 2019, she said in a social media post — swiftly deleted — that he was a “fat twat doing his tribute act, balancing a tambourine on his head”.
Noel Gallagher and Sara Macdonald divorced last year
Liam, meanwhile, called her “proper dark” and claimed Noel was “desperate to get Oasis back … but his missus won’t let him”. If there is new music, how Liam would enjoy singing those break-up songs. For now, though, let the guesswork continue.
Who will be in the band? Liam, Noel and rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs seem certain, given the latter has toured with Liam recently, but the original drummer, Tony McCarroll, and original bassist, Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan, have not played with either Gallagher since Definitely Maybe and 1997’s third album Be Here Now, respectively. Also, what will they play? A vast chunk of the first two albums for sure, with key hits — Stand By Me, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, The Importance Of Being Idle — from their other albums too.
Whatever the setlist though, with no World Cup, Olympic Games or Taylor Swift tours next year, an Oasis reunion will clearly be the event of the summer. It may have felt less likely with every passing year, but some bands are meant to live for ever.
