In 2025,Oasiswill play some of the most hotly-anticipated gigs in the history of music, 15 years after the Britpop heavyweights acrimoniously called it a day. As with all things as famous and as culturally definitive, there’s been tangible backlash from - let’s say - a similar gatekeeping element to those who will list theactualbest Britpop bands of all time at any opportunity.
On that front, a simple rebuttal: let people be excited. Live music should be celebrated, cherished, encouraged to grow for new generations. With that said, my initial excitement for the upcoming Oasis reunion gigs was tempered by two things: firstly, the booking process, naturally, and secondly, the existential dilemma that miraculously manifested for anyone else who failed in the pre-sale, public sale, and second ballot. It just won’t be the same.
Obviously, that’s very easy to say (and hard to justify when the secondary market tickets I bought cost as much as they did), and this is not a self-congratulatory “you weren’t there, man” rant. But that Oasis gig in 1997 was a moment of personal epiphany, and while I am incredibly excited to see the band again, it simply won’t rival the first time. Nothing can compare with how that sort of experience grows in your memory, or how your identity grows around it.
Oasis Were A Different Band In 1997
In 1997, Oasis were at the height of their powers, after enjoying arguably their two best years, and with two phenomenally successful albums already under their belts. Decades later, the “Be Here Now” era is somewhat unfairly remembered as the start of a decline, but for anyone who saw Liam and Noel cockily commanding stages across the world during that tour, such a suggestion would be madness.With all the freshness of teenage youth, I was lucky enough to be among the masses.
Scottish legends Travis played in support, instantly impressing on me their own greatness, even that early. The stage was set up like an Anglophile’s wet dream, with “Cool Britannia” pop art installations backing the band, and very consciously embracing the Brit’s Britpop band image Oasis fashioned for themselves. Even the massive red telephone box couldn’t compete with the colossal presence of Liam, or the contrastingly elegant poise of Noel. Both were giants. Both remain giants.
A year earlier, Oasis had played at a far smaller venue - an ice hockey rink where tickets cost just £12.50, Ocean Colour Scene supported, and the 4,500 crowd was as big as it got for the region. The Arena opened the same year, boasting a capacity of 11,000 and some of the worst acoustics in the history of British rock music. The place was - and remains - a hangar with an arched roof where sound goes to die, built for maximum audience rather than quality of experience. It’s part of the reason major bands skip my city in general, and yet, it might as well have been a cathedral in 1997.
The singlemost enduring memory I have of the gig is not so much of individual songs, it’s the feeling.The pounding bumblebee of bass behind my ribcage, and the immediate sense of strangely comforting claustrophobia at the sound. Even with the acoustic challenges and the wall of sound, the melodies and Liam’s voice rang clear; that same constantly mimicked Manc growl in full voice egged on by the crowd.
Liam too was at the height of his power: one of the eternal images of the tour (and of Oasis' quintessentially British portfolio of portraits) was the singer wearing a Newcastle United football shirt, celebrating the team’s astonishing Champions League victory over titans Barcelona the same night. Somehow, the die-hard Man City fan seemingly predicted the victory and deemed it special enough to temporarily change his colors (a decision helped also, as he confessed in the moment, by the previous hail of beer that greeted him wearing a City shirt the year previous). Liam could always work a crowd.
The Challenge Of Reunion Gigs That Even Oasis Can’t Escape
Reunion gigs are about the occasion, and the nostalgia more than they tend to be about the band’s quality. Obviously, Liam and Noel’s more recent musical track record has been impressive, if not quite great enough to vanquish the ghost of Oasis, but the question of their synergy is still a big one. Reunions tours inevitably come with an inescapable whiff of cynicism about them: they’re corporate enterprises as much as they’re bucket list opportunities.
That’s what Oasis are battling, as well as the potential for volatility, of course. And there’s also the fact thatbands simply don’t sound the same over time:there are very few bands with decades of longevity who have the same energy or even the same sound. Fundamentally, though, I’m afraid my revelation is that I don’t so much want to watch a new gig by them as much as I want a time machine, to take me back to those halcyon days of the mid 1990s. And there’s one difficult reason to acknowledge here.
Oasis Might Have To Make Some Difficult Setlist Decisions
Whisper it, but in 1997, Oasis' songbook was tighter and just better than it would later become. Just look at the setlist: it might as well be a Greatest Hits album: with only a couple of notable absences from the top tier of their catalog. I would have liked to have seen “Half The World Away” (though that didn’t quite grow in stature until after ‘97), “Slide Away”, “The Masterplan”, and “Cigarettes And Alcohol”. That’s not to say that Oasis didn’t release anything great after Be Here Now, but there aren’t many that would muscle their way into this list.
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Acquiesce
The Masterplan (B-side from Some Might Say)
The new gigs will have a embarrassment of riches that I’m afraid will mean some of the songs played in 1997 won’t make it. There’s a case for some of them to drop out, naturally - particularly because Be Here Now simply isn’t as well-remembered, but the Gallaghers will have to make some setlist decisions that I really don’t envy.
Don’t Look Back In Anger…
It’s impossible not to get romantic about the gig, particularly becausewhen I was 13, music announced itself to me with an urgency that was identity forming. Being introduced to bands like Radiohead, Skunk Anansie, and Blur was like being grabbed by my collar and being told that this new art was lifeblood. I’d never be capable of making music like this, of course, because it was magic, but Oasis in 1997 - one of my first gigs - felt like being introduced to a new tribe. Nostalgia can do an awful lot of things, but it can’t recapture that.
The reunion gigs will be an experience, and I am painfully envious of anyone who gets to seeOasisplay for the first time at one of them, even if their pockets still sting. The production will be grand, the camaraderie in the crowd bottle-worthy, and the music will be the same as always, but it won’t come close to what it felt like in 1997 for me.
Oasis
Oasis is a British rock band formed in 1991 in Manchester, led by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher. Renowned for their Britpop anthems, their 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe, and 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? catapulted them to fame. Hits like “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” define their enduring legacy.
