Oasis Reunion Invades America

One year ago, Oasis announced they would be reuniting after breaking up a decade and a half prior in spectacular fashion. And while news that the Britpop titans, namely brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, had settled their differences enough to perform together once again created a major stir in the UK, there was some question about the impact it would have on these shores.

“Oasis announces reunion but will America care?” ran the headline in this very space late last August. Given the lack of chart success and the size of the venues the band had historically played here – the biggest regionally being the scaled-down winter indoor configuration of what is now the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, N.J. – the idea that they were now attempting to fill stadiums in North America seemed scoff-worthy.

What a difference a year makes.

From the very first date in Cardiff, Wales, on the Fourth of July this year, reviews for the gigs have been universally acclaimed as Oasis took the UK by storm with multiple nights per city. Across TikTok, Instagram, and every other social media platform, footage of audiences bouncing up and down at once – seas of them – and singing along to tracks like “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” “Live Forever,” and “Wonderwall,” has been unavoidable.

And it’s not just middle-aged hooligans looking to reclaim a part of their ‘90s youth – teens and millennials make up a majority of the population at the shows. Even those without tickets are getting involved. A couple of weeks back, thousands of people on the streets of Dublin, left outside of Croke Park, were filmed singing “Half the World Away” in unison as the band performed it inside the stadium.

The Gallagher brothers have been getting along – quite literally – better than ever before, laughing and joking amongst themselves, something that never happened during their first run. Noel told a sports channel in England, his sole interview to date since the reunion was announced, that he “grossly underestimated what I was getting into.”

“It was kind of after about five minutes, I was like, all right, can I just go back to the dressing room and start this again?” he told Talksport of the inaugural night of the run. “I’ve done stadiums before and all that, but I don’t mind telling you, my legs had turned to jelly after about halfway through the second song.”

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This Thursday night, Oasis plays Soldier Field in Chicago, their first show in the U.S. since December 2008. That’s where I’m reporting from this week. Like the other nine stadium dates in North America, it was long sold out and easily one of the hottest concert tickets of the summer.

Last weekend, at the first North American date in Toronto, rain began to fall during “Stand by Me” and quickly turned to a full-blown downpour, with the fans and band soaked. Miserable as it might sound, it was described by attendees as nothing short of magical – “biblical” – as they say in the UK.

The closest shows to Philly take place this holiday weekend at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, where Oasis will be joined by openers Cage the Elephant on Sunday and Monday. At press time, some final production release tickets were just about to be made available. And, of course, there’s the secondary markets and Ticketmaster’s “Verified Resale” option.

It would be well advised to take the trip up I-95, because as of right now, the tour is scheduled to end in November, following some massive venues in South America. However, there have been rumors of the “Oasis Live ’25 Tour” stretching well into next year, including a series of concerts in Knebworth, the site of the two biggest shows in the band’s career. It was August 1996 when Oasis played for 250,000 plus fans each night, a feat that quickly became the stuff of legend and cemented the group’s iconic status.

“Right, let’s talk about football,” Noel responded when the hosts of Talksport lightly pressed him on the possibility of a return to Knebworth 30 years later. All bets are on many more dates being announced, especially given the wild success the band is currently experiencing worldwide. Here’s hoping another loop around the States factors in and, this time, lands a bit closer to South Philadelphia.

A version of this article appears in this week’s print and online editions of my syndicated Rock Music Menu column under the title “The Oasis reunion schedules concerts in the States.“