Today (yesterday?) Oasis played their first show since August 22, 2009, when they performed at the V Festival in Chelmsford, England, the day before Bloc Party front man Kele Okereke took the stage at the Rock en Seine festival to announce that the brothers Gallagher would in fact NOT be performing, probably with just a little bit of glee, because he and Liam had this ongoing feud that I won’t get into now but just know Okereke did say Oasis “made stupidity hip” (you can of course hear the whole blow by blow along with six hours of Oasis history HERE).
Night one of the highly anticipated Oasis Live 2025 tour took place in Cardiff, Wales and by all accounts it was, to use the parlance of Liam Gallagher, biblical. Did I cry silent tears watching a video of fans singing Oasis at the pub the day of the show? I said, maaaayyyyyybe (sorry). I find pure fandom to be beautiful and moving, okay? Sue me!
I could spend some time here writing about the dangers of over-indulging in nostalgia or the cash grab blah blah blah but I am not a joyless cunt so I won’t! It’s okay to just let people come together in a sea of bucket hats and triple stripes to drink beer and belt along to anthemic songs that remind them of a time when they felt safer and the world felt smaller and less utterly fucked up (even though it totally wasn’t).
While I wasn’t there (egregious tbh) I asked some boots on the ground devoted mega fans for their scene reportage. Here’s what they sent me:
aforementioned video that made me cry
Markus Schnitzler:
Oasis are actually back! I'll never forget the feeling of looking up to the stage and seeing BOTH Liam and Noel Gallagher next to each other. Well, almost next to each other, they had legendary Bonehead standing in between the two. They kicked off their set with “Fuckin in the Bushes” from tape followed by “Hello”. It surely is good to be back. The energy up front in the crowd was absolutely ecstatic, I couldn't catch my breath during the first three songs. Well, I didn't need to because that energy, that sound, that band was all I wanted, breathing could wait.
But it wasn't just the usual pushing and shoving, moshing and dancing, shouting the lyrics like your life depended on it. It was pure joy. Every single person in the crowd was just overjoyed about being there. I've never seen as many happy faces in my life.
I had seen Liam with his band a couple of times and up until now I was convinced that it was almost as good as seeing Oasis. Boy, was I wrong. They didn't play their songs perfectly, it felt a little rusty at times, but they still sounded like no other band could. It was the Oasis sound I never got to experience live because I couldn't afford going to concerts in 2009 and before. It was the sound that I fell in love with as a teenager and that I tried to find in other bands but just couldn't. The sound that inspired so many of my favourite bands and also my favourite song of a German band I have seen more than 50 times, Kraftklub, which translates to "if you kiss me, Noel will write songs for Liam again". Someone apparently kissed somebody because Oasis Live 2025 just sounds absolutely incredible.
Being part of 75,000 people, singing along to “Don't Look Back In Anger”, “Slide Away” and “Champagne Supernova” might be the best feeling in the world. I just felt united with all these drunk strangers around me, I didn't care about where they were from, if they were too pushy in the pit, if they spilled half their beer onto my shirt a few minutes before. I was just elated to be one of the 75,000 voices blasting every word of the 23 songs that were played tonight. I probably won't live forever, but nights like that would make it worthwhile.
Thank you so much to our official Fast & Loose Oasis correspondents: Ryan Matthews, Allison Rowland, Hunter Mcclamrock, and unofficial correspondent Bonehead.
I was there on the second Cardiff night. I also went to see them in Wembley and Cardiff was (and is) always better.
I’m going to Metlife. I’m absolutely 😵