So, in what actually WAS the best kept secret of the decade, Oasis are back together. They’ve announced a string of mammoth dates across the UK and Ireland for next summer and the country has gone Oasis potty.
The signs were beginning to show of a softening in the ice between the two Gallagher brothers. Whilst Liam has always said he wanted the band to reform, he had been keeping up with the barbed comments until he started dedicating songs to Noel on his Definitely, Maybe tour this year. Then to celebrate the 30th anniversary of said album, Noel talked to John Robb in Sifters Records in Burnage and spent most of the time saying how great Liam was and how he made all the songs better.
Then whilst at Victorious Festival this weekend rumours were being spread about the PR and rock hacks that dates were being lined up, including a potential ten nights at Wembley to gazump Tay Tay.
Then on Sunday some what cryptic posts on Oasis, Noel, Liam and bizarrely Blossoms social media appeared making it far less unlikely that this wasn’t the much sought after reunion.
So at 8am on Tuesday the secret was out. Oasis Live 25 was happening. So far only four nights have been announced at Wembley with another four at Manchester’s Heaton Park, two at Cardiff Millennium Stadium, two at Murrayfield in Edinburgh and two at Croke Park in Dublin. However there does seem to be room for further dates at each venue.
The mad dash for tickets will happen on Saturday morning as the entire internet will come crashing down. If around 4 million applications were made for Knebworth back in 1996, the furore over their comeback will probably see twice or thrice that many. It will be carnage. Already there is a pre sale ballot sign up required and just getting confirmation emails to confirm your address were taking over 12 hours to arrive. They’ve promised the links by 9am Friday, probably to give themselves 24 hours to ensure everything is in place. Not everyone will get one of those either. It’ll be a ruddy bun fight.
So the speculation begins. What does the band getting back together look like? Is it with Guigsy, Bonehead and Tony McCarroll? Unlikely. Not least as McCarroll allegedly sold his drum kit years ago and his dismissal from the band was far from amicable. Guigsy hasn’t been seen behind a bass guitar for 25 years either. The likelihood of Bonehead making an appearance are much higher as he has been playing with Liam this year so will at least know all the Definitely, Maybe songs.
What is far more likely, however it is being described by the press, is that Chris Sharrock will be behind the drumkit. He was the sticksman when they imploded in Paris in 2009, he formed Beady Eye with Liam and is now the drummer for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. The same can be said for Gem Archer, who was the man who replaced Bonehead and was in Oasis for just as long. He was also a founding member of Beady Eye and is now in NGHFB. I’d bet my left arse cheeky that those two will be in there.
It will be who the bassist ends up being, and the smart money is on Russ Pritchard, formerly a Zuton and currently a High Flying Bird. Which is why it is being described as Liam and Noel’s High Flying Birds. Which whilst not completely fair, is at least accurate.
I can understand why there are those who want a reunion of the original lineup, I am one of them, but it’s just not realistic. Just because it isn’t the members that recorded the classic early albums doesn’t mean it isn’t still Oasis.
If that should be the case, then it could be argued that Suede aren’t really Suede without Bernard Butler or even Justine Frischmann. Is Pulp with only Jarvis in there that formed the band in 1978 really Pulp? What is the prerequisite for the official band lineup? It’s a bit churlish to dismiss further incarnations. People have their own idea and opinion but it doesn’t really matter what they think. It could be Liam, Noel and Peggy on bongos and it would still be Oasis.
More interestingly, what might they play? Next year is 30 years since What’s The Story (Morning Glory) was released, so can we expect a run through of the LP that launched them into the stratosphere? They’ll definitely play ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Roll With It’, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, ‘Some Might Say’, ‘Morning Glory‘ and ‘Champagne Supernova‘ anyway. There’ll be ‘Live Forever’, ‘Rock’n’Roll Star’, ‘Columbia’, ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’, ‘Supersonic‘ from Definitely, Maybe and then a collection of all the other singles and a few B-Sides. ‘D’ya Know What I Mean’, ‘Stand By Me’, ‘All Around The World’, ‘Go Let It Out’, ‘Lyla’, ‘The Hindu Times’, ‘Little By Little’, ‘The Importance Of Being Idle’, ‘Shock of the Lightning’, ‘Acquiesce’, ‘Half The World Away‘, and that’s already too many. Would be nice if we got ‘Up In The Sky’, ‘Hey Now’, ‘Headshrinker’, ‘Round Are Way’, ‘The Masterplan‘, or ‘Roll It Over‘.
Does it matter that this is a money making once round the block to pay for Noel’s divorce? Not really. Does anyone think Blur did it last year just for the glory? Does anyone believe any band reform just for the hell of it? No, and everyone knows even if Noel and Liam really were just doing it because they love the music and the fans and the joy of schlepping round the world, that it would make them an absolute shit ton of cash anyway.
Very predictably and typically, the naysayers are out in force. The normal, boring whinging from the Britpop haters, unless it’s Suede, or Manics, or Blur or Pulp (see where this is going?). Give it a fucking rest. You aren’t gatekeepers of taste or preference. Yes there have been some unsavoury comments from the Gallaghers over the years but let’s not go down that road as we’ll be slaughtering some really sacred cows, which I’m happy to do but it will upset quite a few people, including those throwing the stones at the glasshouses.
So lets enjoy it for what it is. A chance to see them do it one last time. Until they need to do it again. Or just fancy making another fuck load of wonga. Because these songs are important to people. For people like me that got bought ‘Some Might Say‘ for their 14th birthday, that wore out a taped copy of WTS (MG), that went and bought Be Here Now before getting their GCSE results, that arrived at Earls Court at 8am to be down the front. That suffered through the final old Wembley gigs without Bonehead and Guigsy. One more greatest hits tour for the devotees.
If you can get a ticket. Good luck everyone.
