LONDON — Today marks the day Oasis finally gets back together. After 15 years apart, brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher announced Tuesday that their band Oasis will be reuniting for a reunion tour.
“It’s happening,” read a message on Oasis’ social media accounts.
The band will play 14 shows in the UK and Ireland next year, according to the announcement, including four dates in their hometown of Manchester and four at Wembley Stadium in London.
“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. This will not be televised,” said a press release, which added that concerts outside of Europe will take place next year – a hint that North American concerts could be announced soon.
Oasis were one of the most popular bands of the 1990s, selling around 75 million records and playing stadiums around the world. The two Gallagher brothers teased the announcement On Monday, he posted a short video on X showing a flashing “27.08.24” in the band’s famous logo font. Liam Gallagher posted Sunday morning: “I never liked that word FORMER.”
And at 8am UK time (3am ET) on Tuesday, the news legions of fans had been waiting for arrived: a major tour that finally reunites the warring siblings.
The brothers were responsible for a string of hit albums and songs, but were arguably just as well known for their off-stage antics, celebrity marriages and violent disagreements.
The band formed in Manchester, North West England, in 1991 and secured a record deal with a single gig in Glasgow, Scotland, two years later, where they were third on the bill.
The band’s debut album, 1994’s Definitely Maybe, still considered one of the greatest British guitar records, catapulted them to fame and made them the figureheads of a guitar music renaissance that the British press called “Britpop.”
The next album, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”, cemented their star status with songs such as “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, which led to success and extensive tours throughout Europe and North America.
Both Gallaghers have gone on to build successful solo careers after Oasis. Liam recently played a series of stadium shows to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘Definitely Maybe’, while Noel has been playing with his band, High Flying Birds, since 2010 and has released four albums.
But while the Gallaghers regularly play old Oasis songs at their concerts, for many fans it doesn’t capture the magic of the two brothers appearing together. The Gallaghers haven’t performed together since a backstage fight at a Paris music festival in 2009.
A rapprochement between them has often seemed unlikely, with the two men trading insults and barbs on social media and in interviews.
But recent weeks have seen a distinct warming of relations. Noel paid his younger brother some compliments in an interview last week, praising his raspy voice. “It’s the way he speaks, the tone of his voice and his attitude,” he said. He compared Liam’s voice to “10 shots of tequila on a Friday night” while his was more like “half a Guinness on a Tuesday”.
The band’s reunion may have been prompted by other successful reunions of their 90s peers. Blur, Oasis’ rivals in a 1995 UK chart battle, reformed to play two shows at Wembley Stadium last year. Blur’s first show sold out all 90,000 tickets in minutes.
The Stone Roses, another Manchester band and a long-time inspiration for the Gallaghers, reformed for a series of concerts in 2012 after a 16-year hiatus.
Recorded music revenues have declined since the advent of streaming services, but live concerts by big names are booming. An Oasis reunion could bring in £400 million ($528 million), according to one industry estimate.
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour generated over $1 billion in revenue and had such an impact on national economies that it is believed to have boosted hotel sales across the United States and had an inflationary effect in Sweden.
