The last time Oasis played a concert in the United States, it was December of 2008 and the band was just months away from a backstage fracas between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher in Paris that would prematurely end the tour, estrange the siblings for more than a decade, and sink any lingering hope of them ever conquering America the way they did their native U.K.
Last night in Chicago, however, at the first U.S. show of Oasis’s still hard-to-believe Live ’25 reunion tour, the Gallaghers — after weeks of increasingly warm hugs, smiles, and ass grabs — seemed intent on finishing what they started on their debut tour of America in 1994. This was a band that, despite 16 years apart, looked and sounded capable of taking over the stadium-rock throne that’s soon to be vacated by perennial seat-fillers like the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and U2.
But would U.S. fans match the energy of the rapturous crowds at Oasis’s U.K. shows? In Chicago, anyway, the answer was an undeniable yes.
A day before the stadium concert, a sellout of 52,000, the Oasis faithful queued up for 90 minutes or more at a pop-up store on Milwaukee Avenue about seven miles from the stadium to buy all manner of merch — track jackets and bucket hats, especially. Adidas sneakers were ubiquitous in line, as were T-shirts from past U.S tours, including that ill-fated 2008 trek, the Dig Out Your Soul Tour.
Any fears that this tour would implode before it reached American shores proved unfounded, and fans celebrated the seemingly impossible on a pristine late-summer night in Chicago. They reveled in the on-the-nose message of set-opener “Hello,” bonded over the brotherly unity of “Acquiesce,” and linked arms and jumped up and down en masse in a soccer poznan ritual during “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” to the delight of Liam. “Everybody said Americans wouldn’t do that fucking shit,” he addressed fans after the song. “Of course they will.”
Liam’s discipline and steady demeanor have been the revelation of the Live ’25 Tour. No frontman in rock & roll conveys so much by doing so little, and at Soldier Field, his most grand gesture was marching in place during a show-ending “Champagne Supernova.” During “Wonderwall,” he pulled up the hood on his anorak to all but obscure his face, letting his vocal — that unmistakable whine still packs a wicked punch — command the stage.
But Oasis fans don’t come expecting outsized theatrics from Liam. He long ago cemented his place in the pantheon of rock silhouettes simply by singing with his hands clasped behind his back, his neck craning upward to the microphone. During “Stand by Me,” he added a dash of flair, goading fans into singing the final chorus by repeatedly flicking his ears. “Fookin’ mega to be back in America,” he said. “We’ve always loved ya.”
Oasis perform at Soldier Field in Chicago on their Live ’25 reunion tour. Photo courtesy of Big Brother Recordings.
Older brother Noel, meanwhile, has loosened the dour visage he seemed to be sporting at early reunion concerts. To some fans who dissected the first few shows of the tour with all the intensity of history buffs examining the Zapruder film, it seemed that something was amiss with Oasis’s guitarist and chief songwriter. He looked sheepish, even reluctant. But with every concert since, he’s let down his guard, shooting smirks and glances at Liam and cheekily introducing the band — “Mr. Bone,” Noel referred to original guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs in Chicago. During “Champagne Supernova,” he was all but beaming.
Oasis, often workman-like in their performances, have played the same set on every night of the Live ‘25 Tour, but no matter — each of the 23 songs landed with an ovation. To the U.S. crowd’s credit, they didn’t come only for hits that were all over radio and MTV in the Nineties. While “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Wonderwall,” off their massive 1995 album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, unsurprisingly received the biggest pops of the night, a host of cellphones greeted non-U.S. singles like “Slide Away” and “Whatever” too. And fans vied to match the vocal prowess of their U.K. counterparts during Noel’s performance of “Little by Little,” hollering “my god woke up on the wrong side of his bed!” in unison.
The response to the whole of Oasis’s catalog, as well as the remarkable amount of twentysomethings in the crowd, made the case that the band has grown a whole new fanbase across the Atlantic. Thirty-one years since they first performed in the U.S., the Gallaghers can still break America. Or, maybe in Chicago, they already did.
Oasis in Chicago @ Soldier Field set list:
“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”
