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In case you (somehow) missed it, Britpop legends Oasis are heading down under in 2025. Victoria has declared it a major event to avoid ticket scalpers, and all four dates for the Melbourne and Sydney shows were sold out within 90 minutes of going on sale.
Due to demand, the notorious Mancunian brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have announced a fifth and final show on Monday, November 4 at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.
To get you lucky punters excited for the ’90s revival set to hit Australia next year, we thought we’d take a look back at Oasis’ rise to fame and how – 30 years after their debut album – they’ve cemented themselves as music royalty, brotherly arguments and all.
Where did Oasis begin?
Oasis was formed in 1991 in Manchester, England. The original lineup included Liam Gallagher as the bad boy frontman, Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs on guitar, Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan on bass and Tony McCarroll on drums.
It was a few months later when Liam asked his older brother Noel to join the band on lead guitar and vocals. The name of the band was said to have been inspired by the now-closed Oasis Leisure in Swindon.
Oasis recorded a three-track demo cassette and played gigs locally, but it wasn’t until the band was invited to play at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, Scotland, that their luck turned around. Serendipitously, record executive Alan McGee was in the crowd. Clearly, he liked what he saw because Oasis was offered a contract with the independent label, Creation Records, that same night.
Rise to fame
Oasis’ debut album, Definitely Maybe, was released on August 29, 1994. “Supersonic” was the first single off the record, followed by “Shakemaker”, and the generation-defining ballad “Live Forever”.
The public clearly resonated with the Gallagher brothers’ lyrics about sex, drugs and being a “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” because the album flew straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart. It was the fastest-selling debut album in British music history at the time (the current record sits with fellow British rockers, Arctic Monkeys, for Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not). Definitely Maybe was also certified 9 x platinum.
The critical acclaim of Definitely Maybe marked the beginning of the Britpop genre, a style of music that pairs alternative rock riffs with catchy pop-esque sounds. Inspired by the likes of The Beatles and The Stone Roses, and in rejection of the grunge era coming out of the States, a slew of bands were heralding a new era of alt rock. Pulp, Suede, Oasis and Blur were named the “Big Four” of the genre.
In 1995, an infamous chart battle between Blur and Oasis (literally dubbed “The Battle of Britpop”) meant you had to pledge allegiance to one or the other. Think: Team Edward or Team Jacob but for British bands.
The chart battle went mainstream and even began to influence the culture of the time, with Britpop becoming a staple of the Cool Britannia movement.
Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle
After the success of their debut album, Oasis began to tour and, like most British bands, attempted to break into America. It was during a show in West Hollywood that the pressures of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll began to form.
Lead singer Liam was heavily under the influence, insulted audience members and even threw a tambourine at his brother’s head. It was during this tour that the reputation of being the bad boys of Britpop emerged.
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory, Oasis’ second album, was released in late 1995 and spurned some of the band’s biggest hits, including the iconic “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger”.
Once again, the album became one of the best-selling albums in British history, was the number one selling British album of the 1990s and garnered the band worldwide recognition and mainstream hype.
But, despite their success, the cracks (sibling rivalry) were starting to show.
The press dug up dirt on the family (most notably, their abusive father) and fanned the flames of fame by the brothers’ lives being tattle for Britain’s infamous ‘90s tabloids.
Knebworth
In the British summer of 1996, Oasis played two concerts at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. The open-air concerts broke records with 125,000 people watching their sets. The gig was so iconic that a live album and documentary of the performances was released in 2021 (titled Knebworth 1996) and the owner of Knebworth House has invited the band back to play at the 30 year anniversary of the event.
Split
Post-Knebworth, Oasis was the biggest band in the UK and released their third album Be Here Now in 1997. As the new millennium rose over the horizon, Oasis continued to write music but things weren’t the same as the heyday of the ‘90s.
Band members left, a performance at Glastonbury in 2005 showed a disillusioned group, and finally, in 2009 at the Rock en Seine Festival in Paris, Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke announced onstage that Oasis had split up.
Noel confirmed this news in a statement, “It is with some sadness and great relief…I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.” Spicy.
Both brothers went on to create their own projects outside of Oasis: Noel with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Liam with Beady Eye and The Rain.
The brothers’ public feuding continued for years and for many younger fans, the thought of seeing Oasis play their greatest hits seemed like a pipe dream.
Reunion
Two days out from the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, it was announced that the formerly-feuding duo would be returning to stages across the UK and Europe in 2025.
While many Australian fans attempted to purchase tickets and make a Euro Summer out of it, in early October Live Nation announced that Oasis would be making a trip down under.
It’s been a legacy 30 years in the making and is the come-back of the century (I’m calling it). The brothers are performing in Melbourne on October 31 and November 1 and 4, 2025 as well as Sydney shows on November 7 and 8, 2025.
The tickets sold like hotcakes (you can understand why), so keep an eye out for resales closer to the performances. Let’s hope Liam doesn’t fling a tambourine at Noel’s head before they make it down.
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