Fans converge as Oasis mega-tour kicks off

LONDON

Tens of thousands of ecstatic Oasis fans descended on July 4 on Cardiff as the legendary Britpop band kicks off a highly anticipated reunion tour nearly 16 years after last performing together.

The concert at the Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital will be the first of a 41-date run of gigs spanning the world, including in the United States, Japan, Australia and Brazil.

Once-warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, their bandmates and UK support acts will play in Cardiff on July 4 and 5 before five hometown gigs in Manchester starting on July 11.

Further sold-out British and Irish concerts will follow at London's Wembley Stadium, Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium and Dublin's Croke Park, before the international leg of their Oasis Live '25 tour.

"All that matters is how the people in that stadium feel," Liam Gallagher, 52, said on social media last week, as months of anticipation reach a climax.

Fans have been sharing their excitement at the first chance to see Oasis play live since 2009 — or ever — after it was long seen as a remote prospect following one of music's most acrimonious break-ups.

The band's 1990s gigs are the stuff of legend.

"The feeling is biblical!" fuel tanker driver Sean Campbell, 35, told AFP before attending the July 4 gig.

"I've been waiting years for their return. I missed out on going years ago, so this is my first time seeing them live."

Oasis, famous for 1990s hits like "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall," announced its comeback tour last August, days before the 30th anniversary of their debut album, "Definitely Maybe."

The Manchester rockers split in 2009, maintaining a war of words about each other for more than a decade and performing individually over those years but never together.

The surprise announcement that they had finally put aside their feud to reunite sparked an online frenzy for tickets but outrage over sudden price hikes that saw Britain's competition watchdog threaten legal action.

Resale tickets costing thousands of pounds have surfaced, while fans have also been targeted by online scams.

Britain's Lloyds Bank estimated in April that victims had collectively lost more than £2 million ($2.7 million).

The tour is expected to be a boon for the struggling U.K. economy.

Fans could spend more than £1 billion combined on tickets and outgoings such as transportation and accommodation, Barclays bank estimated in May.