What’s The Story: A Supersonic Oasis Reunion Show in Croke Park
By Luke Collins
Some Might Say this was the most anticipated concert of the year; the famed Gallagher brothers Noel and Liam finally deciding to put aside their differences and get the band back together for a string of concerts in a reunion show Familiar To Millions. This is the first time the two brothers have appeared on stage together since 2009 when after an intense argument, Noel decided to leave the band citing that he could no longer work with his brother. This row not only led to the cancellation of a show in Paris but also the end of the band or at least that’s what everyone thought. Both men have pursued their own careers since the band split, but their fans still yearned for the day that the two brothers would reconcile and get Oasis back together. In August of last year, the day finally arrived. It started with a simple post on their social media accounts with a date: 27.08.24. The fans including myself dared to dream and when Liam showed the same message on the screen at Leeds Festival. Little By Little, we realised that Noel and Liam were gonna make it happen, and they did. For Oasis fans All Around The World who had Kept The Dream Alive, our dreams had finally been realised.
Everyone remembers the scramble and mess of the Ticketmaster queues, even those that weren’t in them. All the fans were Part Of The Queue, yet many were Going Nowhere, and many people were kicked out. Those that did make it were faced with tickets affected by dynamic pricing which increased the prices from around £150 to nearly £400. This nearly derailed the buzz created by the reunion announcement but luckily the excitement did not Fade Away. I bitterly accepted that perhaps I wasn’t going to see my favourite band of all time live yet at Christmas, my dreams had been made, and I was presented with two tickets to see Oasis at Croke Park. I couldn’t contain my excitement, so I had to Go Let It Out and tell my friends and family about the best Christmas present I had ever gotten, Santa had really delivered this year.
I understand that not everyone likes Oasis. Liam can be a bit of a loudmouth and Noel can be incredibly bitter. Some people think their music is too simple, Wonderwall has become notorious for being very easy to learn on the guitar and the one song most people will play on guitar at a party to impress their crush. Some people may even prefer Blur (if you do, please seek psychiatric help). I am an Oasis maniac, I have listened to nearly every song, have been to see Liam twice in Belfast and even dressed up as Liam for Halloween last year. Oasis are not a ‘Beatles Tribute Act’ but rather one of the greatest British bands of the 20th century according to the Guinness Book of Records. A band that defined British and Irish culture in the 90s, a band that made wearing bucket hats and parkas cool and had an impressive swagger and confidence which made them a force in music. A band that went from playing in local Manchester clubs to playing two sell out nights at Knebworth in 1996 to 250,000 people, a band that had the fastest-selling debut album of the time in Definitely Maybe, their follow up album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory becoming one of the best selling albums of all time with one of the hit singles from it, the aforementioned Wonderwall becoming the first song from the 90s to reach over a billion streams on Spotify. Oasis are Rock N Roll Stars as the opening track form their debut album Definitely Maybe suggests, something which is missing from modern music. This reunion tour brought together multiple generations of people from across the world in a Supersonic celebration of everything great about the band and the culture, I truly believe no other musical act could bring together this many people (no, not even Taylor Swift). This is arguably the biggest reunion show since The Eagles in 1994.
It is also important to note the Gallagher Brothers’ Irish heritage, their mother Peggy was from Charlestown, County Mayo and their father Tommy was from Duleek, County Meath. Both have talked about their summer trips to Charlestown being very formative to them, Noel played for a Manchester GAA club even getting to play at Croke Park when he was 16 and the brothers grew up listening to Irish artists such as The Wolfe Tones. Noel in particular is assertive of his Irishness rejecting the Britpop label placed on Oasis stating, “We’re universal rock we’re not Britpop cause we’re Irish for a start”. The Gallaghers view gigs in Ireland as homecoming gigs and although they had not played in Croke Park until this tour, they had performed many times in Dublin in venues such as Lansdowne Road (renamed Aviva Stadium) and The Point Depot (now the 3Arena) and they have even played in Belfast with their 1994 gig in Limelight coinciding with the night that Definitely Maybe went to number one on the UK charts.
Part of our Masterplan was to do a pub crawl in Dublin before the gig, luckily, we were blessed with the sunshiiinnneee. The Liffey Saint in which a Guinness only cost 5 euro was my favourite. We also tried to go to the Official Oasis Merchandise Store at St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre but unfortunately the queue was too long, so we had to Soldier On. The fans having had their fair share of Cigarettes and Alcohol were singing Oasis songs all the way down to the stadium ready to Bring It On Down at Croke Park. This was a great day for the bucket hat industry as it became part of the Oasis fan toolkit, this was unlike any other concert I had been to before as you could tell who was going to the concert from a mile away. Dublin had been invaded by Oasis fans donning bucket hats and Oasis T-shirts. Dublin tested positive for Oasis fever, and we certainly were infected. We got to the stadium just before Richard Ashcroft started performing and we faced the same problem everyone faces at concerts, trying to get a drink. Now that I was in the stadium, I knew it was essential that I needed to Be Here Now in the moment, Listen Up to every song and enjoy what would be the greatest concert I have ever been to. There was a brilliant supporting performance by Richard Ashcroft who managed to perform one of my favourite songs of all time ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ while downing a pint of Guinness and after the whole crowd sang along to Luke Kelly’s classic song ‘The Auld Triangle’, R Kid and The Chief walked out hand in hand to the instrumental track ‘F***in In The Bushes’. Liam announced, “Oasis vibes in the area, Dublin vibes in the area” and the crowd went mad fer it for their first song ‘Hello’ a very appropriate introduction for a concert 16 years in the making.
Oasis were absolutely electric as I expected them to be, it was everything I was hoping for and more with a setlist comprising of the greatest hits which everyone was looking forward to hearing live. Liam’s voice sounded as good as it’s ever been and was funny too stating this was “the soberest he’s been in Ireland”, Noel’s guitar playing was excellent as was his 3 song set in which he played ‘Talk Tonight’, ‘Half The World Away’ and ‘Little By Little’ (also getting a cheer out of the crowd when he introduced ‘Half The World Away’ as for ‘The Royle Family’ referring to the sitcom it was the theme song for and added “Fuck The Royal Family” referring to the British monarchy). The brass section also played their parts well amplifying songs such as ‘Whatever’ and ‘The Masterplan’. The other members of the band were also excellent; drummer Joey Waronker being the only band member not previously a member of Oasis was great as was bassist Andy Bell, guitarist Gem Archer and original rhythm guitarist Bonehead who as Noel pointed out ‘needs no introduction’ in the Oasis world. Every song was amazing, my favourites being the rousing rendition of D’You Know What I Mean (a Mancunian term used by both brothers), an electrifying performance of ‘Little By Little’, the only song from their 2000s discography to make it onto the setlist and even their most popular song Wonderwall sounded amazing live. I was also privileged to hear my favourite song of all time ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ live which was otherworldly, There was a loving environment in the air with Liam hugging Noel, telling the fans “You’ve been missed as well-you lunatics”, dedicated the song ‘Roll With It’ to Charlestown, County Mayo where his mum is from and dedicated ‘Stand By Me’ to her. The crowd were rocking, singing along for every song and did not sit down once, happily doing ‘The Poznan’ during ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. By the end of the epic encore which included ‘The Masterplan’, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ the crowd were begging Noel and Liam Don’t Go Away but certainly no one was looking back in anger at what had been an incredible concert and awesome experience.
After the gig, me and my dad walked straight back to the hotel, high on life having witnessed this historic event. By Sunday Morning Call, we decided to go to the merchandise store once more. The queue was long, and it took an hour long wait but we decided to Roll With It, and it was worth it as we both got a t-shirt. In the queue, we were interviewed by the radio station 98FM and apparently it was broadcasted on Downtown Radio, yet I have not found it. Overall, this reunion concert was absolutely incredible and it will Live Forever in my heart as the best concert I have ever been to.
