My body feels young but my mind is very old
One of the rapidly diminishing perks of being the wrong side of 40 is that my formative years were the 90's and they played out to the eclectic mix of music that was around at the time 'Madchester', Boybands, acid house, the end of 'Hair Metal', the rise and fall of Grunge, the battle of Britpop and the begrudging acceptance that Bryan Adams would be at number one for eternity.
They say that the music released in the year you were 13-14 will forever be the most nostalgic for you so I feel blessed for that to coincide with the explosive appearance of Oasis in the world.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of Oasis, it was the epoch of Blur, it was the season of Grunge, it was the season of Boybands, it was the spring of Pulp, it was the winter of Robson & Jerome, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us"
90's Image by the Excellent Jim made in Microsoft Paint, get a print here
She is electric... Can I be electric too?
I first 'heard' about Oasis in a 6th form common room in 1993/94, I actually saw it written on the, then, standard issue teenage school bag from Army & Navy Surplus stores. Laura Green (someone renowned for having their finger on the pulse of pop culture ahead of anyone else) had scribbled it on hers to announce that she was aware of a phenomenon in the making.
This was enough for most of us to realise we needed to find out more and a copy of a copy of a copy of a live bootleg cassette made it's way around the school (looking back I guess this must have been the Gleneagles gig from 1994)
Round Are Way
We were lucky enough to have the iconic 'Leadmill' as our local venue for upcoming legendary acts and it still irritates me that I didn't join a bunch of schoolmates to see Oasis play there in early 1994
I had to wait almost a year before I saw them live myself, at Sheffield Arena April 1995, their first arena gig and where I got to see 'Don't Look Back in Anger' performed live for the first time (though In truth I can't really remember it) the whole show is a bit of a blur, I just remember it being an absolutely intense atmosphere, the largest gathering of Oasis fans up to that point.
The trip over was the closest I can imagine many of my peers who had made the trip to Spike Island to see The Stone Roses 5 years before
'Cause I've been standing at the station
Then, as if our sleepy town needed any more reason to love Oasis, they went and featured the local train station on the cover of the 'Some Might Say' single in April 1995. This triggered most of the school at some point heading down to attempt a poor recreation of the image.
'Cause all of the stars are fading away
By pure chance I was there for the final Oasis gig at V Festival 2009, my main memory was that they really couldn't be arsed, practically zero crowd interaction and it just felt like a gig-by-numbers, in hindsight it's clear why now and If I'd have known it would be the last chance for 16 years I'd probably not have wandered off.
All my people right here, right now
I've seen Liam and Noel individually on more separate occasions than I can remember, one of the highlights of those was the (not so well hidden) surprise set at Latitude 2018
And now they have both played their 'final' solo gigs, at least until Oasis have performed again. I was there for Noel at YNOT this year and Liam performed in Malta last weekend (as I write this)
Just try not to worry, you'll see them someday
But now the reunion that seemed increasingly impossible for the last 15 years is actually happening!
Summer of 2025 still feels a long way away but I'm sure Noel will be able to shout 'This is History' all over again... time to dust off the bucket hat.
Our dream setlist below, though can't realistically see them doing a 2.5-3hr set.
Were you at any of these iconic Oasis gigs?...
