It looks like Oasis have some massive outdoor gigs lined up for next year – if you believe what you read in The Sun.
According to the paper's source: “Oasis’ schedule is booked.” Apparently it’s 12 nights at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium in June – home of the Gallaghers’ beloved Manchester City. That will be followed by six nights at Knebworth over a three week period in September. “Dates could be added but for now that’s the master plan,” the source says.
They continued: “Noel and Liam always planned for the tour to have a second run. There were discussions about announcing during the World Cup because of the connection between Wonderwall and The Three Lions in this tournament. But they’ve settled on August."
Assuming the Sun’s source knows what they're talking about, it could be that the details about the dates are revealed next week. It would be appropriate, after all – it will be 30 years to the day that Oasis first played Knebworth this coming Monday.
Those two gigs in August 1996 were, at the time, the biggest in UK history. Oasis played to over 250,000 fans but could have sold the place out 20 times over – more than 2.6 million people applied for tickets in the year when Oasismania reached its peak.
If – and at the moment it very much remains an if – the band confirm those dates then you’d hope that this time they put in place the tech infrastructure to cope with what is certain to be exceptional demand. When the UK dates for their Live 25 tour were announced in August 2024, an estimated 14 million people applied for tickets. To add to this, there was also the controversy over ‘dynamic’ pricing, which saw fans stung for amounts way in excess of the original ticket price they thought they were paying.
Will lessons be learned? We’ll see. Perhaps on Monday.
