Oasis at Heaton Park

Buckle up, this could be a long one.

Like many other procrastinators, I have spent much time in my life trying to rank my favourite bands/artists, a list which seems to change every other month. However, there is always one or two constants, and the band who have come out on top most frequently is Oasis. To say I love Oasis would be an understatement. To say I love Noel Gallagher and his music from both Oasis and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (NGHFB) would be an understatement. To say I love Liam Gallagher and I enjoy (slightly less than love) his solo offering would be an understatement. I have fantasised and dreamt of seeing Oasis either by way of time machine or reunion since I can remember, having not seen them when in their initial incarnation before their demise in 2009. At one point, a time machine looked the more likely option. This obsession has dominated large parts of my brain and personality. I have seen NGHFB five times and Liam Gallagher twice, each time as brilliant as the last.  I have followed their drama like a sports fan follows their favourite team, wincing at each snarky comment, aggressive tweet, compliment and rare outpouring of affection as one would react to concede and scoring goals.

Seeing Oasis, therefore, seemed like a pipe dream; an impossible event which had little to no likelihood of ever occurring. However, on the 25^{th of} August 2024, a teaser dropped after Blossoms’ show at Wythenshawe Park. Liam Gallagher’s Reading headline slot finished with the same teaser. The teaser stated that on the 27^{th of} August, an announcement was coming – in Oasis’s famous font. What followed was a trailer, dropped at 8am on the 27^th. Many of us crowded around our phones, tablets and laptops to watch this trailer and it all became incredibly real. ‘The great wait is over’ began the tagline – a 16-year wait, mind you. A tour was announced, named Live ’25. A raft of UK and Ireland dates were announced, which would later be expanded to include the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and a number of South American cities. Apologies mainland Europe, you guys have been left behind.

From there, excitement turned to the stress of securing a ticket. Mercifully, my stress subsided very quickly, as I secured two sets of tickets. One set for Heaton Park and one set for Wembley. Some might say this was selfish or over the top – I could not care less. When one has waited over a decade for something to happen, then you best believe that person is going to squeeze every last drop out of it. Even dynamic pricing could not quell my excitement, although it did batter my bank account. Oasis were returning and I was to be there – nothing could stop this train a-rolling.

And with that, welcome to another edition of my concert review series (which I should really think of a name for), where I will be recounting and reviewing what was (spoiler alert) one of the best nights of my life.

Pre-match

With the show being in Manchester, we ventured northward via a train from Euston. Euston is a horrific scourge on London and should be fixed or annihilated as soon as possible.

The train journey was a standard affair but packed full of Live ’25 revellers buzzing to see the band. We met an old warhorse travelling to Manchester for work who had been at one of Oasis’s famous Knebworth shows in 1996. Not attending any Live ’25 date, he imparted some wisdom on us before returning to his solo journey. He had passed the baton – we would carry the torch in his honour.

On our train was also former Chelsea, Manchester City and England footballer Wayne Bridge, who recently hit the headlines for agreeing and then pulling out of a boxing match against YouTuber KSI. Bridge, much like us, was banging up the tracks northwest to see Oasis – and we even spotted him in the VIP section later.

As you can imagine, Manchester was absolutely rammed with feverish Oasis fans. Opting to go via Uber from our accommodation in Stretford to Heaton Park to avoid the bus/tram queues, it was a stressful voyage. The roads were chaos, with queues and U-turns aplenty. Eventually, we hopped out early in Prestwich and made a swift walk up to Heaton Park.

The venue

Upon arrival, we were greeted by wristband brandishing stewards who would confirm our fate of where to stand. As well-publicised, a ballot was conducted for all Heaton Park ticket holders to establish whether they would be in Front Standing or the dreaded General Admission (GA). We were lucky enough to secure Front Standing, but then it emerged that there were to be two Front Standing sections – a ‘Front Front’ and a second, smaller Front Standing section between Front Front and GA. Unfortunately, we had arrived too late to secure Front Front – this had been decided by who had arrived within a certain timeframe. Nonetheless, we were very grateful to be in Front Standing at all, as GA would house around 60,000 people and would have been a nightmare to secure a good spot.

The two Front Standing sections shared a bar, toilet and food area, which was good as it meant shorter queues than being in the rammed GA. With £6.50 for a pint of Brooklyn Pilsner, the prices were surprisingly reasonable for such a large event (particularly when you imagine the eye-watering prices which will presumably be on show at Wembley later this month).

The Front Standing section was quite narrow but spread beyond the width of the stage, giving lots of good spots to pitch up. We opted for right in the middle of the stage and consumed a solo pint to avoid any risk of needing to escape to the toilet during the show. I was not missing a second, not least for my bladder.

Surreal

Rounding the corner upon entry to Heaton Park and seeing a stage with the word ‘OASIS’ on the top of it was surreal. This day had been a long time coming and now all I wanted to do was get firmly stuck into the action.

The support

A key criticism of Live ’25 has been the support acts. For the UK and Ireland leg, the two support acts have been/are Cast and Richard Ashcroft. I’m not sure anyone could argue against Ashcroft – he was there at the very beginning of Oasis’s journey, is good friends with both Gallagher brothers and supported Liam on a previous tour. He has a decent set of songs from his days in The Verve to lean on and is a charismatic entertainer. Cast, I admit was an underwhelming choice when announced in October 2024. As usual, the internet had already done a hatchet job of ‘leaking’ the support acts, with outlandish claims that The Courteneers, Kasabian, Blossoms and Fontaines D.C. amongst others would support Oasis around the country and Ireland, alternating on different dates. As some of us predicted, this was nonsense. Ashcroft is a safe pair of hands and Cast are clearly regarded well by the Gallaghers. Plus, if you were returning to the stage for the first time in 16 years, the last thing you would want is an incredibly energetic live act such as Kasabian smashing your audience in the face before you came out. You would want you audience up for it but not exhausted or possibly blown away. Further, the last thing this tour needed was anymore build-up or hype. As evidenced by the ticketing process/fiasco, hype was at a gargantuan level. Oasis could have announced a supporting bill of The Wiggles and Ronan Keating, and no one would have torn up their ticket.

Cast kicked things off with a short set. I must admit I only knew their biggest hit, Alright, but these Liverpudlian indie heads were better than I had expected.

Ashcroft followed, with a set full of hits and humour. He’s a funny fish, Ashcroft, and I really enjoyed him. Telling the crowd he would ‘set this fucking stage on fire’ only to then play the fairly chilled out Space and Time was a particular highlight. You can tell he has a good heart, referencing the healing power of music and speaking of his delight that lockdown is a distant memory. The huge hits of The Verve were the highlights: Lucky Man, Sonnet and The Drugs Don’t Work are mega songs for a reason. Closing out his set with one of the UK’s premier anthems, Bittersweet Symphony, was the perfect lead into Oasis. A singalong special with those iconic strings, every person in Heaton Park belted it out like it was their last stand. It was seismic closer before the madness that would soon come.

A half an hour wait followed, which was absolutely agonising. The seconds dragged to minutes; the minutes felt like hours. The anticipation was utterly palpable and no one could handle another second within hearing that iconic drumroll from Fuckin’ in the Bushes.

The crowd

Before getting onto the main event, a quick word on the crowd. Oasis crowds of the noughties were renowned for being pretty thuggish affairs, with fights and wannabe football hooligans launching pints of urine and punches in fraught gigs. Famous examples include the broken barrier at the Etihad in 2005 and three shows at Finsbury Park in 2002 which, by all accounts online, were like a warzone.

Not to sound too much like an old man shouting at a cloud, I have found crowds to have got worse since Covid. People are more impatient, and a lot of etiquette has gone out of the window. I’ve seen more aggression in crowds in the five years following lockdown than I did in all of my gig going experiences before that. Couple that with the reputation of Oasis crowds, I did have a niggling worry that this crowd might be an unpleasant, rowdy and aggressive environment.

I can happily report that this could not have been any further from the truth. Everyone we met was lovely before, during and after the show. I suppose the lesson is, how can you be angry at an Oasis reunion show? Everyone was buzzing and happy, having waited so long for it to happen. We met some great people and moshed and danced with so many others. There was the classic collection of young lads who had clearly taken quite a lot of drugs (potentially for the first time) who were doing a bit too much barging and at a lesser gig, this might have been annoying. The range of ages was great to see, with men and women of all ages in attendance. Noel has remarked in the past how real youngsters have somehow discovered Oasis and create a loyal army of fans. They were great to be around and were out of their minds (from chemicals as well as the show). Feral at times, you could not question their commitment.

The crowd was also not short of VIPs. The VIP setup at Heaton Park was a tent erected between the Front Front and Front Standing. We caught a glimpse of some famous faces, including Jack Grealish, Anais Gallagher (who seems to be going to every show, what an absolute hero), Shaun Ryder, Wayne Bridge and Sam Burgess (crook bloke, look it up). The celebrities spotted at the Cardiff and Manchester shows have been well documented, and you would imagine the London ones will see a further plethora of big names rocking up.

Oasis

This was night five of Oasis’s return, with two shows in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium followed by two shows in Heaton Park before this one. I had tried to avoid footage where possible, but temptation greeted me like a naughty friend and I allowed myself a peek at some moments, not least the incredible footage of the two brothers arriving on stage on 4^th July 2025, hand in hand, brothers in arms.

Despite having watched this footage, nothing could prepare you for seeing such a thing in the flesh. The show opens with ‘THIS IS NOT A DRILL’ adorning the big screens, and then Fuckin’ in the Bushes kicked into gear over the PA system. Goosebumps resembled mountain ranges as that incredible riff burst through the sound system, like a roundhouse kick to the face. The words ‘This is it, this is happening’ flashed across the screens along with newspaper clippings and old tweets about Oasis’s previously rumoured returns and then their confirmation that they were coming back. At this moment, it became real – this was it, and this was happening. And with that, there they were. Noel and Liam, hand in hand once again, coming out to rapturous applause. People were screaming, cheering, crying. I found myself weirdly celebrating, as though I was watching Luke Shaw bury that left-footed shot in the European Championship final in 2021 all over again. Although this was my cup final and I was actually watching the trophy be lifted this time. ‘Oasis vibes in the area’ Liam announced. Gem Archer, Paul Bonehead Arthurs, Andy Bell and new drummer Joey Waronker followed to take up their positions on stage. We were there, they were there, we were all ready.

The entrance

No sooner had the band taken to the stage had they ripped into the opener, Hello. The perfect opener I’m sure we can all agree. Acquiesce followed. One of very few songs to feature Liam and Noel both on lead vocals, this was probably the song I was most looking forward to, tied with Some Might Say. To hear Noel belt out ‘Because we need each other’ was so special. Although not that you could hear much of either of them singing – most of the crowd knew every word and drowned them out. That is not a criticism, it was amazing to be shoulder to shoulder with so many lovers of the Mancunian upstarts. Morning Glory followed in this no holds barred holy trinity of opening songs. This three-song run was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a concert; three utter anthems with mosh pits opening a beers/urine flying. As you can see from the photos I have included, we were neither far back from nor very close to the stage, but the bedlam was still incredible. Bodies flew, people crowd surfed, drinks spilled. The last days of Rome had come to Bury and Oasis were the soundtrack. Some Might Say took the fourth spot and that outro felt like you were levitating. The harmonies of Noel and Liam were barely audible, but we filled in the gaps.

The breathlessness didn’t stop there. Bring It On Down came next. My only real change to the setlist would be that I would remove Bring It On Down and replace it with Lyla or Go Let It Out. The Live ’25 setlist has one post-2000 song and could do with a some proper 21^st century love. Lyla is a stomper and Go Let It Out is great to singalong to. That being said, Bring It On Down still delivered nicely. Cigarettes and Alcohol came next, with Liam informing the crowd that it was ‘Poznan time’, to which we duly obliged. Again, a slight critique would be that Cigarettes and Alcohol was quite early, but this was presumably on purpose, to keep the feverishness as high as possible. That song will simply never get old, it is impossible not to yell out that chorus. Speaking of yelling, I’m not sure anyone in the crowd actually sang anything – we all yelled and shouted. It was like being in a football crowd, chanting away in support of something.

Fade Away, Supersonic and Roll With It were the following three tracks before Noel took to the stage for his section. Supersonic was rousing and 80,000 headbanged in unison to that iconic drum intro. The other great thing about this show and Live ’25 is the fact that Noel is back playing lead guitar. Having played rhythm for such a long time and even admitting last year he felt he had lost his ability to play lead, he played lead on the majority of the setlist and nailed every single song. The outro solos on Supersonic and Cigarettes and Alcohol were biblical as he rolled back the years.

Noel’s section was Noel at his very best. Taking a second to soak everything in, armed with an acoustic guitar, he treated us to a wonderful rendition of Talk Tonight. An incredibly important song in the history of Oasis, charting his brief exit from the band in the US in 1994 and the woman who convinced him to rejoin his brethren, it was an emotional moment. Half the World Away came next, which Noel dedicated to The Royle Family. Ignorant concert-goers booed, presuming he meant the royal family, which Noel snappily clarified. One of the all-time great singalongs, it was belted aplomb. Noel finished off his section with Little by Little, making it the only post-2000 song in the setlist.  A staple of NGHFB shows, it is unsurprising this made it into the Live ’25 setlist.

Liam returned to the stage for the underappreciated D’You Know What I Mean?, the lead single from Be Here Now. I adore this song and never thought I would see it live so it was a great surprise when the setlist went round in early July. Stand by Me and Cast No Shadow came next, both full of emotional and feeling. I had seen NGHFB do Stand By Me the previous summer, but it barely came close to how good this version was. The sheer power of Oasis came through here, with a sound so heavy you could feel it in your chest.

Then we had “the one for the fans”, as Gem Archer once called it, Slide Away. One of the great Gallagher love songs, this epic truly shows what a mature songwriter Noel always has been. The lyrics are a thing of beauty and the outro so full of emotion you cannot help be pulled in to belt it every time. As the two brothers shouted ‘what for’ in unison, I was totally blown away. As a certified Oasis nerd, I had spent many hours watching old performances, particularly of Slide Away. To see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears was something I will long cherish. With the sun coming down as the song opened, it was a surreal moment which felt almost too good to be true.

Whatever and Live Forever followed, both as epic as each other. Live Forever seems to have taken on even more of a life since the band’s breakup, having been used in the recent Adidas advert and one which many people cite as the song which got them into Oasis. However, the last song of the main set was probably the best of the night. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star. The opener to the band’s debut, Definitely Maybe, this song probably sums up Oasis. Swagger, self-belief, escapism and being who you are are the overarching theme of this humdinger, the very same foundations of Oasis and the Gallagher brothers. To hark back to my admission of being an Oasis nerd, I found myself adding Liam’s ad libs from the live album, Familiar to Millions, of ‘ain’t no gangster’ whilst singing along with the chorus. This was for no one but myself and I didn’t even realise I was doing it until the third or fourth time. Again, nerd.

And with that, the main set was finished. So began the flirtatious moment in which the band teases their exit, only to return for the encore. What an encore this was. Noel came out for The Masterplan and Don’t Look Back in Anger. Two staples of NGHFB shows, I had seen both songs five times, but not like this. The Masterplan was completely masterful and DLBIA was, well, DLBIA. As the final ‘least not today’ rang out, I found myself incredibly emotional and having to compose myself. This night had been a long time coming, in both my dreams and reality, and there I was, in it.

The finale

Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova finished off the show in spectacular fashion. Wonderwall was Wonderwall – people love to hate it, but it is a great song which should be afforded more respect despite its radio over-play. Champagne Supernova was truly epic, with Liam sounding huge and Noel a true guitar god on that lengthy solo. He sounded amazing. As the song finished, the band did a very brief lap of the stage as the fireworks began. The back screen was suddenly showing a sun setting over the sea. As the fireworks rained, the sun slowly set to below the horizon. Before we knew it, the band had left the stage and we were just left with fireworks and this image of a sunset. The crowd, strangely, were in complete silence, taking in the pyrotechnic display and this beautiful image of a setting sun. It was not until the sun was completely gone from the screen and the fireworks over that the crowd gave Oasis the ovation that had been deserved. I think everyone was totally blown away. An incredible two-hour performance had come to a crescendo and we were all stood there, wondering what would happen for the rest of our lives. I had turned my phone off during either the second or third song, with no intention of taking it out of my pocket again until the end of the show. I, along with many others, had been totally immersed in the moment with nothing else distracting us and now it was over, what next? So many of us in the world had been waiting for Oasis to come back and now they had and we had seen them – what else do you think about all day everyday now?

In the immediate, the thoughts turned to returning to Manchester. With a lengthy walk to Northern Quarter ahead of us, we made tracks amongst a sea of Oasis heads. People belted out Oasis songs, sunk tinnies and bought bootleg merchandise. The vibe was still surprisingly good as we made it back into central Manchester for a night of mischief and beer despite the long walk and tired feet.

The aftermath

Awakening the following morning with a sore head and empty wallet, the reflections began to flood in and the clarity of what we had witnessed. If you had told 18-year-old me that I would one day venture to Manchester to see my favourite band after a long and protracted breakup for a reunion show with some of my closest friends, followed by a night out for the ages, then I would have either assumed insanity or been unable to get anything done for the next ten years of my life for being distracted.

We ventured into Manchester before our train back to London and visited both a merch stand and the Adidas x Oasis store to allow ourselves to be ripped off by our capitalist overlords. The Adidas store was interesting, with lots of old Oasis memorabilia, including Noel’s iconic Union Jack Gibson Sheraton. Upon my return to London, I also visited the Oasis pop-up store in Carnaby Street to burn even more money. I hope the Gallaghers spend all this new cash wisely, because they’ve had a good chunk from me.

With a further viewing of Oasis in my diary coming very soon (the subject of my next blog), I have been sure to allow this gig to sink in before I go in again for round two. This gig felt as though we were some sort of vortex, suspended in time, with the real world left behind. I have only ever felt similarly when I attended Glastonbury Festival last year, where portions of the weekend (not all of it) felt as though I was on another world, with none of my real world worries anywhere near me. For a few hours on this sunny Wednesday afternoon and evening in Manchester, time stopped, and I was in an oasis.

It is hard to put into words how this gig felt. I could go incredibly mushy and talk about how much Oasis and their music mean to me, although I’m sure the preceding few thousand words have done that. I found it hard to process everything until even a few days later. It is very easy to say ‘it was utterly amazing’ but to explain why, I cannot put my finger on it exactly. The band members just stand there. There isn’t some ludicrous light show or abundant crowd work; in fact, Noel and Liam only had a few bits of back and forth with the crowd, largely outpourings of appreciation and some football references. The music does the talking here, but so does the allure of Oasis. Two brothers united, split then reunited. Songs spanning generations. Iconic fashion and haircuts. An amazing show which would blow out the cobwebs for anyone and would entertain even the most stony-faced doubter.

The band are and were often considered to be more than the sum of their parts. But that is to show a serious disrespect to both Gallaghers – they would be nowhere without Noel’s masterful songwriting and Liam’s charisma as a frontman. There was no luck involved in their meteoric rise nor the clamour for the reunion. Oasis are one of the UK’s premier music outfits and have returned with shows for the ages. I have not seen a single negative review for any show and, with the way the media carry on, the knives would have been gleefully pulled out if these shows had been anything short of exceptional. To me, this was the greatest gig I have been to and the best crowd I've ever been in. It sounds a weird flex but I have been to a lot of gigs and upon the conclusion of this show, I have now seen every active band I desperately want to see. In all these years of gig going, nothing has matched this show. Some are close (Royal Blood in the tiny Concorde 2 in Brighton will live long in the memory; Deep Purple blowing my ears into oblivion when I was 12 too; seeing Black Sabbath for the first time at Download Festival was incredible; and bunking off school to see AC/DC at 11 was so special), but Oasis are now clear at the top of the tree. I will be at Wembley very soon and cannot wait, once again.