Oasis take to stage for first gig in 16 years to jumping crowd and flying cups
By Ellie Ng, George Thompson and Rosie Shead, PA
Oasis took to the stage for their first gig in 16 years, sending the crowd jumping and cups flying into the air.
Noel and Liam Gallagher swaggered onto stage before waving at concert goers at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium – the first stop on their long-awaited worldwide reunion tour.
The brothers launched into Hello to kickstart their first live show since their dramatic split in 2009 following a backstage fight at a gig in Paris.
The Britpop band from Manchester started promptly at 8.15pm following a short video which declared: “This is not a drill”.
Before their third song, (What’s the story) Morning Glory? Liam said: “Hello people, it’s been too long.”
He walked off stage after performing Roll With It, with Noel taking over singing duties and appearing to reference the dynamic pricing scandal, quoting the audience a price before saying “it’s just gone up”.
Later, ahead of launching into Cigarettes And Alcohol, Liam demanded the audience embrace, telling fans to turnaround and hug a stranger.
He said: “Right then beautiful people, I want to see you all turn around and put your arms round each other.
“And when the tunes starts, jump up and f****** down.”
Tens of thousands of fans descended on Cardiff ahead of the gig, with the stadium able to host 74,500 people.
On Friday afternoon, every pub and bar along St Mary’s Street in the Welsh capital was filled with people waiting for the concert to start, with the majority wearing the Britpop band’s merchandise.
Fans Lachlan Weekes and Jayden Helm, who spent more than a day travelling from Sydney, Australia, to attend the concert in the Welsh capital, were among fans gathering ahead of the gig.
Mr Weekes said: “We’ve been planning it forever. We always said that if they got back together, we’d be at that first show.”
Mr Helm said: “We’ve been lifelong fans – we’re 22 and 21, so haven’t really had a chance to see them before.
“We always said it was worth it to come, we wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he added.
“To take time off work to come over here, it’s more than worth it.”
Lawrence Evans, from just outside Swansea, said his “life changed” when he started listening to the band as he then started to play music and write songs.
He said: “They were the band that made me realise how much guitar music meant to me.”
His son Jimmy said of the concert: “The fact that it’s in Wales is really special for us.
“It’s the first time I get to see Oasis, (my dad) he’s lost count, he’s seen them countless times.
“I’ve been waiting for this day all my life.”
Alex Schuetz, an Oasis fan from Germany, said you could not travel far enough to see the band.
“The first time I saw them was in 1997,” he said.
“The last time was in Manchester 2009, just before they broke up.
“I even got a ticket for a small festival in Germany and on the ferry to that festival I heard they broke up.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god’ something was dying inside of me – it sounds a bit stupid, but it took me ages (to get over it).”
He added: “I’ve come from Germany. You cannot travel far enough, I’ve been a fan since 1995.”
Glenn Moss, an Oasis fan from Essex who regularly gets mistaken for Liam Gallagher, said he started working as an impersonator ahead of the Britpop band’s reunion, having previously been against the idea.
He said: “I get stopped all the time – as soon as I got here yesterday four people within five minutes stopped me asking if I was him or for a photo.”
The reunion announcement came 15 years after Noel quit the Britpop band, saying he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer”, following a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.
While fans have been pleading for the group to reunite since they disbanded, website issues and controversial dynamic pricing brought outrage, with many failing to secure a spot.
After tickets for the UK and Ireland shows went on sale last year, some standard tickets appeared to have jumped from £148 to £355.
The controversy prompted the Government and the UK’s competition watchdog to pledge to look at the use of dynamic pricing.
Following Cardiff, Oasis will visit Manchester’s Heaton Park, London’s Wembley Stadium, Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium and Dublin’s Croke Park throughout July, August and September.
The group will then head to Japan, South Korea, South America, Australia and North America.
A movie, produced by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, is being made in conjunction with the reunion tour.
The band was led by lead guitarist Noel and his brother, lead vocalist Liam, during their 18 years together.
Oasis signed to independent record label Creation Records in 1993, rising to fame with the release of their debut chart-topping album Definitely Maybe on August 29 1994.
They had hits with songs including Don’t Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova, Wonderwall and Live Forever.
Dig Out Your Soul, the band’s last studio album, was released in 2008, just months before the Paris row.