Oasis, the biggest British rock band of the 1990s, started their reunion tour in Cardiff yesterday, bringing the feuding Gallagher brothers back together on stage for the first time in nearly 16 years.
The band, whose hits Live Forever and Wonderwall helped define ‘Britpop’, announced the shows nearly a year ago, setting off a frenzy for tickets.
Guitarist, main songwriter and vocalist Noel Gallagher, 58, told talkSPORT radio last week the band was ‘sounding huge’ in rehearsals.
“This is it, there’s no going back,” he said.
The group, whose debut album Definitely Maybe was released 31 years ago, split in 2009 when Noel said he could no longer work with his younger brother Liam.
The barbs continued, but fans still hoped the band would reform.
“The thing that makes the Oasis reunion special is the thing that makes any reunion special: It has to be something that people really want and something that people thought they’d never see. And Oasis ticks both those boxes,” music journalist Mark Sutherland told Reuters.
Fans started to gather early outside the city’s 74,500-capacity Principality stadium, where official Adidas-Oasis football shirts were on sale for 85 pounds ($116).
“They’re more than a band, it’s almost like a movement,” said Matt Hobman, 48. “It’s like a piece of Britishness.”
The Gallaghers will be joined by original member Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, as well as Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Joey Waronker.
Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe, released in 1994, was a milestone in ‘Britpop’, a bright, guitar-led reaction to US grunge music.
Its follow-up, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, featuring Wonderwall’ and Don’t Look Back in Anger, was the best-selling album of the 1990s in Britain and brought the band’s breakthrough in the US.
Many fans waited for hours in online queues to buy tickets last year, only to find prices had jumped when they eventually had a chance to get them.
Britain’s competition watchdog launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over the sale, including the use of ‘dynamic pricing’ to hike the cost to fans at the last minute.
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