Oasis History: From Definitely Maybe to the Live '27 Reunion
A short history of Oasis: the rise from Manchester, the Britpop peak, the 2009 split and the reunion that led to the Live '27 tour.
Oasis came out of Manchester in the early nineties with a simple, enormous ambition: to be the biggest band in the world. Definitely Maybe in 1994 made them contenders, and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? in 1995 made them unavoidable, carrying songs that long ago outgrew the band themselves.
The peak came fast. The 1996 Knebworth shows, played to around 125,000 a night, stood for years as the high-water mark of British live music. The years that followed brought more albums and smaller headlines across the band’s tours, until the 2009 split in Paris ended the band and sent the Gallaghers into separate careers, a story driven throughout by the brothers’ relationship.
The reunion that so many fans had stopped expecting became the Live ‘27 tour, 42 nights that deliberately return the band to the cities and sites where the story was made. For the shows themselves, see the full list of dates and the setlist tracker.