The last time I got to see Liam Gallagher, it was at Reading Festival. After he sang a set entirely made up of Oasis songs, and after weeks of chatter surrounding a reunion, the band confirmed what everyone had been waiting for: a full-on Oasis reunion.
Oasis changed my life. It sounds dramatic, but it’s true. I got into them as a young teen, and the music spoke to me like nothing I’d ever heard before. As a British Indian growing up in West London, my childhood was soundtracked by diverse genres, but guitar music was not one of them. My mum listened to Indian music and ‘dad music’ meant something entirely different to me. My dad listened to dub reggae, funk and house music. I didn’t discover rock bands until I was 12 years old.
It was 2007, and I’d just started secondary school. I remember flicking through music video channels after school when I saw Liam Gallagher suspended on a chair in sunglasses in the “Live Forever” music video. “Maybeeeee I don’t really wanna know, how your garden grows ‘cause I just want to fly”, he sang. I was hooked.
I quickly worked my way through their discography, borrowing Oasis CDs from my best friend’s dad, and spending my spare time watching Oasis interviews and live performances, entertained by everything about the Gallagher brothers. The way they dressed, the way they talked and most importantly their music. I was obsessed. They were also my gateway into other band music: The Beatles, Black Sabbath, The Stone Roses.
I decided I had to start a band, so I taught myself the guitar. I’d watch tutorials on YouTube from an Australian man called Pete who ran an Oasis fan page called Pete’s Musical Oasis on Facebook. By this time in my life, I’d made friends with some Oasis fans, but most of my friend group were more into pop. They thought I was crazy for being Oasis obsessed — they couldn’t comprehend why I was so into them. It was actually quite fashionable at the time to slag them off.
Through Pete’s group, I was able to connect with fellow fans from across the world. We shared covers of Oasis songs, discussed performances, and created a strong community. I’m still close friends with someone I met on the internet through a shared love for Oasis.
After learning every Oasis song on the guitar (they’re not that hard) I hung up my rockstar boots and had my sights set on journalism instead. I’d read interviews with the Gallagher brothers in music magazines like the NME, and I dreamt of interviewing them myself one day. This inspired me to go into the career I work in today, and I am forever grateful.
I haven’t had the chance to interview either of the Gallaghers, but I have met both of them separately. I used to hand out flyers in Camden Town when I was a university student, and I saw Noel Gallagher walking down the street. It was fate. I stopped him for a chat and he politely asked about my life and plans after university. I told him about wanting to be a journalist, and I remember asking him for a cigarette to maximise conversation time with him. I didn’t even smoke!
A few years later, I met Liam. It was my first ever visit to Manchester, and I was there to see The Stone Roses. As I walked out of the train station a Liam Gallagher lookalike caught my eye. He was walking down the road with that famous swing in his step, wearing an orange parka. I quickly realised that it was actually him. He was on his way to the concert too and we had a brief chat before parting ways.
Despite meeting the key members of Oasis, I never got the chance to see them live. I went to V festival in 2009, dressed in an Oasis t-shirt, bucket hat and a parka, but they never showed up for their headline set. Five days later they announced their split. I was devastated. I’d spent hundreds on the ticket, and it felt like my whole life was building up to that moment.
Years went by with Oasis fans like me dreaming of a reunion, to no avail. Liam started his band Beady Eye, and Noel toured as Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. I would go to see both of them when I got the chance, as they both played Oasis songs in their sets. It was the closest I got to experiencing Oasis, and it was great. Crowds united in the masses to relive the Oasis days, and we all wished for the same thing.
Rumours of reunions were always bubbling, but we all learnt not to get our hopes up. After all, Noel made it clear that he would never do it and we got used to Liam’s cryptic social media posts.
When rumours of a reunion finally started to circulate in the press last year. I didn’t believe it.
Not only does the reunion offer a chance for people like me to finally see their favourite band, it’s also a chance to relive the good old days. Nostalgia for the 90s is in, haven’t you heard?
