'This is happening.' Oasis tour ends band's 15-year hiatus

Article content

LONDON — Oasis, the Britpop band known for timeless hits like Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger, is reuniting for a tour of the British Isles next summer, ending a 15-year hiatus and, presumably, the long-held feud between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.

The guitar band will play 14 dates in Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland next July and August, Oasis said on Tuesday. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“This is it. This is happening,″ the band said.

Oasis split in 2009 after many years of infighting, with Noel Gallagher officially leaving the band just before a performance at a festival near Paris. Even before the dissolution, the brothers had long had an antagonistic relationship and reportedly did not speak to each other for years after the breakup.

“People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer,” Noel Gallagher, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, wrote in a statement at the time.

While the Gallagher brothers haven’t performed together since, both regularly perform Oasis songs at their solo gigs. They’ve also each fired off criticisms of the other in the press.

Noel Gallagher accused his younger brother of having a hangover that forced them to cancel a 2009 concert. The frontman disputed the accusation and sued, later dropping the lawsuit.

But now the brothers are preparing to reunite, with the band saying fans would experience “the spark and intensity” that occurs only when they appear on stage together.

The tour will begin July 4 and 5 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Oasis will also perform at Heaton Park in Manchester, England, on July 11, 12, 19 and 20; Wembley Stadium in London on July 25 and 26 and Aug. 2 and 3; Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Aug. 8 and 9; and Croke Park in Dublin on Aug. 16 and 17.

The band alluded to past tensions in the tour announcement.

“The guns have fallen silent,” Oasis said. “The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”

In 2011, Noel Gallagher told The Associated Press in an interview that he left the band after an incident where Liam started wielding a guitar “like an axe … and he’s swinging this guitar around and he kind of you know, he took my face off with it, you know?”

In 2019, Liam Gallagher told the AP he was ready to reconcile.

“The most important thing is about me and him being brothers,” he said. “He thinks I’m desperate to get the band back together for money. But I didn’t join the band to make money. I joined the band to have fun and to see the world.”

“I don’t know what his problem is,” he continued. “I think he just wanted to go away and do his solo career, get all the coin and be surrounded by all the yes men you can fire and hire whenever he wants. You can’t do that with me.”

With the announcement, the Britpop progenitors ended a few days of fan speculation. A short video on the band’s social media accounts Sunday night had revealed the date “27.08.24,” and time “8 a.m.,” written in the same font as the well-known Oasis logo. The brothers shared the same to their individual accounts.

Of course, fans have long theorized a reunion might be on the horizon. In the wake of the 2017 bombing that killed 22 at an Ariana Grande concert in Oasis’s hometown of Manchester, Liam Gallagher performed at a benefit concert that fuelled speculation of a reunion. He criticized his brother’s absence, but a spokesperson said Noel Gallagher couldn’t attend because of a longstanding family trip. Benefit organizers said Noel Gallagher approved the use of Oasis’s music and donated royalties from Don’t Look Back In Anger to the British Red Cross One Love Manchester fund.

Later that year, Liam Gallagher tweeted at his brother, leading some to believe they made up: “I wanna say Happy Xmas to team NG it’s been a great year thanks for everything looking forward to seeing you tomorrow AS YOU WERE LG x”

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Oasis was already teed up to release a new collection, Definitely Maybe – Deluxe 30th Anniversary Editions, celebrating the anniversary of their debut album.

Rumours of a potential reunion were amplified this past weekend when Liam Gallagher responded on social media to unconfirmed reports of the band playing London’s Wembley Stadium and Manchester’s Heaton Park. When one social media user criticized Heaton Park, the Manchester native wrote, “See you down the front,” calling the user a vulgarity. In another stand-alone post on X, he teased, “I never did like that word FORMER.”

“You tell me man,” Liam Gallagher replied. He also responded to several negative tweets about the potential reunion with “Your attitude sucks” and “SHUTUP.” Noel Gallagher, on the other hand, remained silent other than posting the teasers.