What we’ve learned from the Oasis announcement – and the unanswered questions | Ents & Arts News

It is the news fans have waited 15 years for – Liam and Noel Gallagher are finally reuniting Oasis for a comeback tour.

They will play 14 shows across the UK and Ireland in 2025 – an announcement made on Tuesday morning following weeks of speculation.

Liam and Noel Gallagher both shared the news on social media.

Tickets go on sale on Saturday, and further Oasis shows outside Europe are also being planned.

Here’s what else we’ve learned from the reunion announcement – and the questions yet to be answered.

The first photo

Noel Gallagher famously left the band, signalling the end of Oasis (or so we thought at the time), back in 2009. The brothers have not been pictured in public together since – so Simon Emmett, the photographer who took this photographer, has captured a moment in history.

The new image comes after they met for a photoshoot in London last month, Sky News understands.

The pair were “laughing and joking” with each other as they stood in front of the camera, according to reports, with a source close to the brothers confirming to The Mirror newspaper that they did pose together.

“I know it looks like it could be photoshopped but they were both there and they have met up,” the source reportedly said. “They were laughing and joking. It was great to see after all the years apart.”

Is Glastonbury off the cards? What about a Wembley record?

Ahead of the official announcement from Oasis, tabloid reports suggested the band would also be headlining Glastonbury.

It seemed to make sense, especially as the festival will be taking a break for a fallow year in 2026. Next year’s should be a big one.

The band previously headlined the festival in 1995 and 2004 and Liam and Noel have played separately in recent years.

However, their statement says the UK and Ireland shows will be their only shows in Europe next year, seemingly quashing those rumours. Glastonbury falls before what is currently the first show in Cardiff on 4 July. Would the Gallaghers really want to share a stage for their first performance?

There were also reports they had booked 10 dates for Wembley – which would break Taylor Swift’s recently set record of eight. So far, only four are announced – but if tickets sell out quickly on Saturday, as expected, it wouldn’t be a surprise if more dates are added.

Are Liam and Noel friends again?

After years of exchanging insults, some joking but some deadly serious, the Gallagher brothers deciding to appear on stage together again is huge – but the statement announcing their comeback does not reveal how and why they finally kissed and made up.

“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”

This was the official statement from Oasis confirming the reunion. Further details said there was “no great revelatory moment”, but rather “the gradual realisation that the time is right”. This is it as far as it goes when it comes to addressing their infamous fall-out.

There is no real acknowledgement of the fact they haven’t been on speaking terms for years. Fans will be hoping this is about building bridges and friendship, as well as bringing the music back.

The rest of the band

So far, it has only been confirmed that Liam and Noel will reunite, with no details yet of the musicians who will join them on stage.

The band went through numerous incarnations after forming in 1991 with Liam, rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll – later being joined by Noel.

Gem Archer, who took over rhythm guitar duties following Bonehead’s departure in 1999, has managed to remain close to both Gallaghers, performing in Liam’s Beady Eye post-Oasis and now currently part of Noel’s High Flying Birds. Chris Sharrock, who was in the band from 2008-09 and is the only other Oasis member to join the brothers in their respective solo projects, seems the most likely presence on drums.

In recent years, Bonehead has performed with Liam, with the presumption being that he and Noel were not talking – but, replying to a fan on social media last year, he revealed the pair had recently spoken and were on good terms.

It is highly unlikely Guigsy or McCarroll will be joining the reunion. Drummer McCarroll was fired in 1995, before the band went from being the next big thing to the biggest band on the planet, while bassist Guigsy has rarely been seen in public since he quit the band weeks after Bonehead. He declined to take part in the Supersonic film in 2016 and in 2019 Liam said: “Not seen him since he left the band and he only lives up the road.”

There is also Andy Bell, who performed with Beady Eye but was said to have a frosty relationship with Noel. However, in 2023 his band Ride supported High Flying Birds. Alan White, Oasis’s longest-serving drummer, was fired from the band in 2004, with the reasons remaining unclear; his replacement, Zak Starkey, son of Beatles drummer Ringo, performed with the band from 2004 until 2008, but reportedly fell out with Noel.

Get saving

The reaction, unsurprisingly, has been significant. Thousands and thousands of people will want to get their hands on those tickets.

If you don’t live in any of the gig cities, you might need somewhere to stay, too. But get in there quickly.

Hotel prices for Oasis’s first night at Wembley are already as much as three times as expensive as the week before, our news correspondent Matthew Thompson reported.

He said a quick look at hotels following the announcement showed some don’t have rooms available for the 25 and 26 July and 2 and 3 August gigs, while others appear to have seen an increase in price.

“I had a quick look at a Holiday Inn a couple of miles away the week before the concert, it’s £195 a night. The first night of the concert, it’s £594 a night,” he reported.

“So already people are getting on the hotel rooms even before the tickets go on sale. That gives you some sense of just how much demand there is for these tickets.”