Against considerable odds, Oasis’s 2025 reunion tour turned out to be a triumph.
Defying predictions that their relationship wouldn’t stay repaired long enough to play what turned into 41 shows, Liam and Noel Gallagher put on a united front throughout, while fears that Liam may no longer have the voice to sing the band’s classic hits proved unfounded. Even his famously curmudgeonly guitarist brother seemed to be enjoying it at times.
In fact, the biggest criticism was of Oasis’s apparent ‘acquisance’ when it came to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing strategy, which saw many UK fans being faced with eye-watering prices when they reached the checkout.
It wasn’t just the Gallaghers who had to find a way of working together, though. Since Oasis split in 2009, Liam and Noel have been touring independently, and Mix Online confirms that, for the reunion, their respective teams were forced to come together.
This meant having two front-of-house engineers: Dan Lewis (co-owner of Urban Audio, which handled the control package) and Sam Parker.
“When a band the size of Oasis splits, it generates its own touring entities and reintegrating that is always going to be an interesting exercise,” admits Lewis. “We’ve integrated both camps on this tour, and in the planning phase, it became obvious that if the technology and the space is available to keep Liam and Noel in a place they’re happy with, doing the tour this way, with the both of us at FOH, made perfect sense.
“After all this time apart, they have loyalties to their crews too, and I’m in a very fortunate position in that Noel trusts me to get on with what I need to do.”
Parker, meanwhile, was very much Team Liam: “Dan’s been doing this for such a long time, he knows exactly what Noel wants, but there’s few precedents for having two FOH engineers,” he points out. “I’m here to look after the vocal. Dan presents a very easy platform for me to throw him a couple of feeds; I buss Liam’s processed vocal and effects group to him, but Dan’s in charge of the overall show volume and complying with site limits wherever we go.”
As we’ve already suggested, those who predicted that Liam’s pipes wouldn’t hold up in the heat of stadium rock battle were quickly forced to eat their words, but Parker says that’s not down to any special magic from him.
“I keep hearing people ask, ‘What have you done to Liam’s voice?'” he laughs. “I’ve not done anything! He’s got to turn up with that voice in the first place. He’s just happy to be here, he’s in his element and it’s clear that he’s comfortable on stage and therefore singing at his best - that’s what people are hearing.”
There was also a third pair of ears in the shape of Callum Marinho, Noel’s studio engineer, who was responsible for making multi-track recordings and generating a broadcast mix for socials.
The all-important PA, meanwhile, came via Britannia Row Productions. Their system designer, Josh Lloyd, is also a veteran of Oasis tours past, and he says that he relished not only being back with the band but also having better gear to work with.
“On a personal level, it’s so nice to be involved with Oasis again,” he says. “20 years ago, we were really pleased with what we achieved on their tours, but we just know so much more as an industry now. Audio technology has really matured and what we can design has really come a long way.”
Lloyd also believes that, in an era when many of the biggest tours in the world are those by pop stars, Oasis offer something a bit different.
“Oasis is an audio band, and that’s what people come for,” he argues. “I think people can forget what rock and roll actually is, but there’s something about Oasis that gives a live rock performance a certain exciting energy.”
Lloyd was also happy to have two people at the helm: “It’s worked out really well, having two FOH engineers, because of the busyness of certain points in their songs,” he says. “On top of that, having two engineers means having two opinions to bounce off. And the results speak for themselves.”
It remains to be seen what Oasis will do next. Having reached the end of the scheduled tour in Brazil on Sunday, the band said this week that ‘there will now be a pause for a period of reflection,” but there have already been rumours that they could return to Knebworth, scene of their greatest live triumph in 1996, for a multi-night run in 2026.
And yes, that would be the 30th anniversary…
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