London hasn't always brought out the best in Liam Gallagher. He sat it out at Royal Festival Hall as the band played on without him for their MTV Unplugged recording in 1996. At the old Wembley Stadium, months before it closed to be rebuilt, a drunken performance in the shadow of the ground’s Twin Towers resulted in Liam vowing not to take to the stage while under the influence again; Noel later described the show — recorded for posterity as a sub-standard live album — as the band's lowest point. And the last time the Gallaghers played live together in London, for 2009’s iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse, Liam rowed with the crowd in an unhappy showing; little more than a month later, the band were finished.
However, at the first night of their Wembley 2025 run on Friday, Liam was centre stage for all the right reasons. Whisper it quietly, but has the Oasis frontman, perhaps, learnt the error of his ways?
"Every time I open my mouth I seem to get myself in f***ing trouble. I'm just gonna do the singing, or the screaming and the shouting as they put it these days," he told the crowd. Naturally, he didn’t quite stick to that, but certainly it was the performance that did the real talking.
It seems like the Oasis fanbase may have also matured somewhat. After pint glasses had gone up in the air for the opening songs — notably the ferocious, opening bars of Morning Glory getting the fans on the pitch jumping — that seemed to be that. Not like the array of liquid being thrown for the duration of Oasis gigs back in the day. Then again, a pint costs an awful lot more now than it did then to be chucking it away.
Liam stepped out of the limelight for Noel to play his own mini-set, starting with Talk Tonight “for the ladies”. Another B-side favourite, Half The World Away, was dedicated to the TV show it soundtracked, The Royle Family. “Not that royal family, the real f***ing Royle Family,” said Noel. Shining mobile phone lights were waved aloft for this heartfelt love-in. That’s another thing that was different in the 90s, in the days of cigarette lighters.
From the crowd’s response, Little By Little was a well-judged delve later into the band’s back catalogue than anything else in the set — which remained consistent with the rest of the tour to date. With the London evening light starting to dim, Liam rejoined the band, announcing it was time things got “naughty” with a pair of Be Here Now hits, D’You Know What I Mean? and Stand By Me.
Oasis showed they can be naughty but nice, as an image of Ozzy Osbourne was projected towards the end of Live Forever, followed by Liam dedicating Rock ‘n’ Roll Star to the recently deceased Black Sabbath man.
Arsenal fans had earlier been ribbed by Liam as he got the crowd to bounce along in the Poznan style adopted by Manchester City fans, and now Noel invited boos by referring to Pep Guardiola as “the greatest manager of all time” when introducing encore opener The Masterplan. These references feel like a throwback to the days when (indie) music and football were much more intertwined. Seasoned Oasis fans will recall more football shirts in the crowd in the 90s. Today at Wembley, everyone appears to be wearing the same team kit: the Oasis-branded Adidas merchandise and bucket hats. A decent sideline on top of the ticket sales.
Noel paid tribute to his “favourite bar”, the Chiltern Firehouse, which burnt down earlier this year. A tragedy bigger than the Great Fire of London and the Blitz combined, he said as he dedicated Don’t Look Back In Anger to their staff.
Liam duly obliged in singing, in his words, “wretched song” Wonderwall, before the epic closer Champagne Supernova finished suitably with fireworks over the stadium. The Oasis frontman then essentially echoed the evening’s opener as he bid goodbye. “Nice one for making this happen. It’s good to be f***ing back.” On this form, few here at Wembley would disagree.
Oasis at Wembley set list (25/07/2025)
- Hello
- Acquiesce
- Morning Glory
- Some Might Say
- Bring It On Down
- Cigarettes & Alcohol
- Fade Away
- Supersonic
- Roll With It
- Talk Tonight
- Half the World Away
- Little by Little
- D'You Know What I Mean?
- Stand By Me
- Cast No Shadow
- Slide Away
- Whatever
- Live Forever
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Star
- The Masterplan
- Don't Look Back in Anger
- Wonderwall
- Champagne Supernova
