August 28, 16 years to the day since Noel Gallagher left Oasis after a backstage brawl in France, the band returns to the USA to play the first of their biggest ever shows in the country.
Soldier Field in Chicago will welcome Oasis back to the US for the first time since 2008, a monumental occasion, a chance for Americans and Oasis to eternally bandage a relationship that has been turbulent to say the least. It therefore seems fitting that it should commence in the ‘Windy City…’
Speaking to Photographer Jill Furmanovsky in 2023, Noel Gallagher explained why Oasis may have never cracked America like they did in other places: “I mean, I think that’s the reason we’ve never really had a number one album in America – they wouldn’t go the extra mile for us because we wouldn’t go the extra mile for them.”
“That’s why we’ve never been nominated for a GRAMMY, you’ve got to do all that stuff over there, you’ve got to kind of fake it a little bit and we just we couldn’t do it which is why we’d always stall at number two.”
View this post on InstagramIronically one of Oasis’ most famous blunders in America was when Liam Gallagher decided not to board their plane to the US in 1996, instead he went house-hunting in London with then girlfriend Patsy Kensit. Due to this he missed dates at the start of the tour, the first being Chicago, Noel was furious and so was America, this was one act of ignorance that people never really forgot.
During their very first parade around The States in 1994, Oasis played a drugged up, mess of a gig at the Whisky A GO GO, fans would witness the band singing different songs at the same time followed by Liam launching a tambourine at his brothers head head on stage. This led to Noel quitting the band temporarily, an event that would become all too familiar in the years to come.
Despite this, Oasis announced a mammoth North American leg of ‘Oasis Live 25’ along with the statement: “Oasis is coming, you have one last chance to prove you loved us all along.” Before this tour their biggest gig over the pond had likely around 20,000 in attendance. Tonight they kick off a tour that includes two nights at the MetLife stadium, of which the capacity is over 80,000. This isn’t quite ‘Beatlemania’ but it’s an astonishing feat, considering the past.
Ironically, one of Oasis’ most famous blunders in America was when Liam Gallagher decided not to board their plane to the US in 1996, instead he went house-hunting in London with then girlfriend Patsy Kensit. Due to this he missed the first few dates of the tour, the first being Chicago, Noel was furious and so was America.
During their very first parade around The States in 1994, Oasis played a drugged up, mess of a gig at the Whisky A GO GO, fans would witness Liam launch a tambourine at his brothers head on stage. This led to Noel quitting the band temporarily, an event that would become a broken record over the years, but ‘soldier on’ he did.
Despite these events, Oasis announced a mammoth North American leg of ‘Oasis Live 25’ last year, saying “Oasis is coming, you have one last chance to prove you loved us all along.” Before this tour their biggest gig over the pond had around 20,000 in attendance. Tonight, they kick off a tour that includes two nights at the MetLife stadium, of which the capacity is over 80,000. This isn’t quite ‘Beatlemania’. For context The Beatles once had 40% of the American population (73 million people) watching them perform live at the same time. It’s an astonishing feat, considering the past and that very few have got remotely close to The Beatles .
Fans in America and Chicago are excited for the gig, they’re even queuing down the street to get into the pop-up shop. This is a huge testament to the band swallowing their arrogance and working on their American image during the 2000s. This can be seen with album successes too. The band literally became more popular as the years went on… penultimate album “Don’t Believe The Truth” debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200, 3 years later they would do as well as #5 with “Dig Out Your Soul.”
It felt like Oasis and the USA had just begun to understand each other when the band came to an end, this week they will seek to put things right. America have done their part, the shows are sold out and the great wait is over.
Are Oasis really familiar to millions? Can they prove themselves truly worthy of legendary status and get this ‘monkey off their back’?
