With rumours circulating that a long-awaited Oasis reunion may be on the cards, fans at Reading and Leeds 2024 have told NME whether they could see the band coming back together. Watch our video above.
Speculation that the iconic Britpop group could be reforming has come to a head in recent days, and that Liam and Noel Gallagher have finally buried the hatchet since their split in 2009.
Liam responded to a fan’s question about the rumoured gigs taking place in Manchester in London, before antoher fan reached out to the ex-frontman on X, asking: “Liam reunion dates when?” Soon afterwards, the vocalist’s response got people talking, when he shared the potentially very revealing: “Nxt Friday”.
That being said, in a separate response to a fan who accused him of “getting everyone’s hopes up with all your wind-ups”, the singer shared: “Your winding yourselfs up I’ve said NOTHING”.
Nxt Friday
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) August 25, 2024
It isn’t yet clear whether next Friday (August 30) will see Oasis make an announcement about a reunion, however, that hasn’t stopped fans from getting their hopes up about the possibility.
On the final day of Reading And Leeds 2024 (Sunday, August 25), NME caught up with some fans waiting to see Liam’s headline set, and asked them to share their thoughts on the rumours.
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On the whole, there seemed to be a pretty even divide between fans at the site. Some remained hopeful that the speculation could come to fruition, while others were adamant that the plans for a comeback – which would make their first performances since the appearance at V Festival in 2009 – would fall through.
“I do think an Oasis reunion is closer than we expect” one fan told us while at the festival site earlier this afternoon, while another added: “Both Noel and Liam are on tour at the moment, they’re still producing music… I think they’re going to go for it.”
Some, on the other hand, weren’t quite so optimistic. “It’d be great to see it but the chances of them getting back together today is very unlikely,” one said, while someone else agreed, stating: “I don’t think it’s going to happen. It’s the same thing every year, someone pasts something, it gets taken out of context.”
Speculation about an Oasis reunion has been rampant for some time, with both members taking a hot-and-cold approach to the idea of getting back together. Liam, said earlier this year that Noel was “still playing hard to get”, and also claimed that he would send him a box of chocolates as an apology for being “really mean” to him around the time of Oasis’ split in 2009.
There were also reports that dates had been booked for an Oasis reunion at Wembley Stadium this summer, but that never materialised.
Noel has discussed the possibility of an Oasis comeback in an interview with NME in the past too, adding that the reason why it hasn’t happened yet was because there had “never really been a serious offer about ‘The Big O’ getting back together”.
More recently, Gene Gallagher – Noel’s nephew and Liam Gallagher’s son – previously weighed in on the Oasis debate, and explained in a new interview that his dad wants the reunion to come to fruition.
Former Oasis guitarist Bonehead has said that he would like a reunion to go ahead because of what it would mean to the “younger fans” of the band, and Andy Bell – who played bass for the band between 1999 and 2009 – said Oasis would “probably” get back together at some point in the future.
Liam would later respond to Bell’s comments about a potential Oasis return, criticising him for “getting people’s hopes up”. Noel also took aim at Dave Grohl for bringing up the idea of a reunion at this year’s Glastonbury – adding that he told him to “wind his fucking neck in about Oasis”.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading and Leeds 2024.