Hey, everybody! Reader here, and this morning, I woke up to some of the best news I’ve heard in a long time.
After days of speculation and teases, Liam and Noel Gallagher made it official this morning… Oasis, the forever kings of Britpop, will reunite for the first time since 2009, to tour the U.K. next summer!
As you can imagine, I’m suitably stoked, and the tour trailer is a reminder of Oasis at the height of their powers.
You see, I talk a lot about my love for the Rolling Stones, as they’re my #1 favourite band of all-time. But I don’t consider Oasis to be my #2. In reality, it’s a 1A and 1B situation!
They’re the two bands that captured me with their music and attitude like no others have before and since.
This year marks 30 years since their debut album, “Definitely Maybe,” featuring their mission statement, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” and the immortal “Live Forever,” along with classics like “Supersonic” and “Cigarettes and Alcohol,” while next year they’ll be celebrating 30 years of “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?,” with their North American breakthrough, “Wonderwall,” along with “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova.”
I didn’t instantly fall in love with “Wonderwall.” It slowly grew on me, and now I do love it, like so many Oasis gems.
I remember the hype when their third album, “Be Here Now” came out in 1997, and I made the trek to the beand-new Wal-Mart in Medicine Hat to pick up the CD. Even though many people slag it (including Noel Gallagher), I still love it!
I remember when original members Bonehead and Guigsy left the band, and Gem Archer and Andy Bell joined up in 2000, giving the band a new sound, and Noel began to share songwriting duties with the rest of the band.
In June of 2005, I made my first-ever trip to Toronto, to finally see Oasis play live, in support of their underrated “Don’t Believe the Truth” album, at what was then called the Molson Amphitheatre (now known as the Budweiser Stage), and it was unreal.
And in August of 2008, I caught the boys in Edmonton, on what was (so far) their final North American tour before years of bickering between Noel and Liam came to a head a year later near Paris, leading to Noel leaving the band in 2009.
I’ve got all kinds of Oasis memorabilia, from CDs and tickets and tour programs and posters, to books, stickers, t-shirts and Funko Pop! figures.
Perhaps the prized part of my Oasis collection is this photo of the band making a UK TV appearance, signed by the Gallagher brothers themselves!
Now, the only tour dates announced for the summer of 2025 are in the UK, but a release says they plan to take the tour to other continents, as well. Will they visit Canada? We’ll have to wait and find out.
As well, there’s been no word on who will be onstage accompanying the brothers, whether it’ll be the OG members, or, as has been rumoured, the members of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
Both brothers have made some fantastic music on their own, but there’s a magic about when they come together. Will this mean new music from Oasis? I’m certainly hoping so.
For me, as excited as I am to see the brothers reunite as Oasis, I’ve always wanted to see them get back together as brothers first. Here’s hoping they’ve buried the hatchet. (Though, let’s be real – the prospect of an obscene amount of money to be made probably helped to broker the truce, too! Haha!)
Whatever happens, I am one excited Oasis fan!
I’ll leave you with a few of my favourite Oasis deep cuts. Everybody knows the huge hits, but there are so many great lesser-known singles, album tracks and B-sides, that I absolutely love.
Like “Gas Panic!,” from 2000’s “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants” – probably one of my top-five favourite Oasis tunes…
Or “The Masterplan.” This beautiful track was originally a B-side to “Wonderwall.” Many bands could make a whole career off the songs that Noel casually wrote as B-sides in the mid-90’s. He was on such a hot streak. This video is from their iconic Knebworth gigs of August 1996, which saw Oasis at their absolute peak, playing two shows to a total of around 500,000 fans.
Maybe the heaviest and punkiest they ever got was on “Headshrinker,” a B-side from “Some Might Say.”
“Going Nowhere” was a B-side from 1997’s “Stand By Me.” Love this one.
And finally, a bittersweet one, from the final Oasis album, 2008’s “Dig Out Your Soul,” perhaps the finest tune Liam Gallagher has written, “I’m Outta Time.” At the time, it seemed like the end of an era. Hopefully a new era is upon us, with new music in the future!
At the end of the reunion tour trailer, Noel Gallagher says something that is as true today as it’s ever been:
“People will never ever forget the way that you made them feel.”
And that’s the key. Oasis were never the most technically proficient band, and lyrically, they were never the deepest or most profound. But the songs, the personalities and the attitude resonated with the hearts, minds and imaginations of fans around the world, and still do to this day.
Hopefully the reunion tour is just the start of something bigger!
