One of the most feverishly anticipated reunion concerts in rock history kicked off Friday evening at Principality Stadium, in Cardiff, Wales, when Oasis took the stage and began their first show in 16 years by breaking out 1995’s “Hello.” They then ripped into “Acquiesce” (1998) and “Morning Glory” (1995).
Oasis last performed in public on Aug. 22, 2009, at the V Festival in Weston Park, England. They were booked to play another festival in Paris one week later, but an angry Liam Gallagher lunged at Noel Gallagher backstage, with a guitar in his hand. “He started wielding it like an ax,” Liam said in 2015. “It was a real unnecessary violent act, and he’s swinging this guitar around, he nearly took my face off with it.”
“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,” Noel wrote in a statement to fans. “People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
In the years that followed, the brothers toured and recorded in two competing camps. “I’d rather eat my own shit than be in a band with him again,” Liam told LA Weekly in 2011. “He’s a miserable little fuck, if you know what I mean.”
Liam’s position softened in the years that followed, but Noel remained adamant that it would never happen. “As funny as this sounds, Oasis sell as many records now per year as we did when we were together,” he said on the podcast Pub Talk in 2022. “We’re as popular now in the eyes of the people as we ever were. And I’m happy with it. If we got back together, there would be a circus — and there’s no point. Just leave it as it is.”
But in 2024, rumors began swirling that the Gallagher brothers had finally patched things up, and were booking dates for a 2025 tour. “The guns have fallen silent,” the band said in a statement. “The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”
The brothers stopped speaking to the press after the tour was announced, and refused to even confirm who else would play in this new version of the band. But in March, a source leaked to NME that the group would consist of guitarists Gem Archer and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Andy Bell, and drummer Joey Waronker.
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“NME tell me who your source pots are that keep giving you info about Oasis and I’ll give you an exclusive interview about up n coming Oasis tour,” Liam Gallagher tweeted out in response. “It’s not the lineup reveal I’m bothered about I’ll reveal that to you in a minute I’m more bothered about the line where it says a source close to the band and tour that really causes me a great deal of concern.”
At press time, Oasis were still onstage at Principality Stadium. The tour continues Saturday night at the same venue, and then heads all across the UK and Ireland for the next few weeks. A North American leg begins Aug. 24 in Toronto. The final show on the books is Nov. 23 in São Paulo, Brazil.
