The Japan Times - Oasis announce 2025 worldwide reunion tour kicking off in UK

The band behind hit songs including "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger" and "Champagne Supernova", will play an initial 14 gigs next year in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and the Irish capital, Dublin, starting in July.

Oasis also plan to play in "continents outside of Europe later next year," according to a statement posted on their website.

Formed in Manchester, northwest England, in 1991 and credited with helping create the Britpop era of that decade, they will be the first Oasis gigs since 2009 after the Gallagher brothers fell out.

"The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised," Oasis said, as it announced the reunion alongside the first details of the tour.

The announcement capped days of hints and fevered speculation the band was set to play again.

However, there was no announcement regarding the release of any new music, while Oasis will reportedly not play next year's Glastonbury festival despite widespread speculation.

- 'Hottest tickets' -

"Oasis today end years of feverish speculation with the confirmation of a long-awaited run of UK and Ireland shows forming the domestic leg of their Oasis Live '25 world tour," the online statement added.

The tour will begin over two nights at the Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital Cardiff from July 4, 2025, followed a week later by four gigs at Heaton Park in their hometown, Manchester.

Oasis will then play London's Wembley Stadium -- on July 25 and 26 as well as August 2 and 3 -- before taking to the stage over two nights at Murrayfield Stadium in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

The UK and Ireland gigs will conclude with two performances at Dublin's Croke Park in mid-August.

"Their only shows in Europe next year, this will be one of the biggest live moments and hottest tickets of the decade," the statement said.

A press release said there had been "no great revelatory moment that has ignited the reunion -- just the gradual realisation that the time is right".

It promised "a set full of wall-to-wall classics".

Tickets for the UK dates will go on sale from 9am (0800 GMT) on Saturday, with Dublin tickets available from 8am the same day.

Social media was abuzz with the news, with the band's post racking up hundreds of thousands of likes and fans sharing their excitement.

"Last time I saw Oasis live was 1996 Loch Lomond. Alarm set for Saturday morning," said one fan.

- 'Never say never' -

Oasis has long been synonymous with '90s Britpop music, when it enjoyed a fierce rivalry with London band Blur, co-founded by Damon Albarn.

The Manchester outfit was also notorious for public fights between Liam and Noel.

The sibling tensions came to a head during a spat at a 2009 Paris festival, when Liam broke one of Noel's guitars.

The brothers have not played together since -- but both have still regularly played the band's hits to sold-out crowds.

Until now, they had largely communicated in public through taking swipes at each other on social media.

The brothers have teased at a reconciliation before, with Noel last year saying "never say never".

The hints became firmer more recently, with social media accounts for the brothers and Oasis all trailing Tuesday's much-anticipated announcement.

The now-confirmed reunion will take place 30 years after Oasis's 1995 album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?", which received international critical and commercial acclaim.

Meanwhile, tracks from the first recording session for its debut album "Definitely Maybe", released a year earlier, will be put out Friday -- a day after its 30th birthday -- Britain's Press Association (PA) news agency said.

Unheard versions of songs including "Live Forever", "Cigarettes & Alcohol" and "Rock 'N' Roll Star" recorded then will be among them.

T.Kobayashi--JT