Will the truce between the Gallagher brothers hold out? Will the most-hyped reunion in British rock history actually come off? And will fans be able to bag themselves an official Oasis tea towel?
The answer to that final question, at least, has arrived. The first Oasis merchandise store will open in Manchester on Friday, two weeks before the band perform their first gig in 16 years at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Selling everything from £40 bucket hats to baby grows, cutlery sets, shot glasses, jigsaw puzzles and tote bags, the shop in Spinningfields will be one of six across the UK and Ireland this summer, with the others in Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Dublin.
Fans will be able to recreate the front covers of the band’s debut album, Definitely Maybe, and bestselling follow-up, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, on green screens in the store. Those hoping to buy a signature Liam Gallagher parka will be left empty-handed, however.
The official merch stores will add to the considerable payday for Oasis before the most highly anticipated – and profitable – series of shows in British music history. The shops, which will sell limited-edition vinyl records, also represent the changing nature of music fandom, said Dr Matt Grimes, of Birmingham City University. “It’s almost like the experience of the event itself is just not enough. So how do you create other experiences for people?” he said.
Estimates of how much Liam and Noel will earn from their sold-out reunion have ranged from £40m to £400m. Despite initial controversy over the pricing of tickets – with some sold by Ticketmaster for as much as £337.50 – fans are expected to splash out £1bn on everything from beer to merch to hotel bookings in the UK and Ireland.
Birmingham City University estimated last year that the brothers could earn £50m each from the initial 14 UK shows – but that was before the tour expanded to 41 globe-hopping dates. “The question at the bottom of all this is: do you really need that much money?” said Grimes, the university’s course director for music business.
He said artists could typically expect a 50% cut from the sale of each official T-shirt, hoodie or parka, although the details of Oasis’s reported £20m merchandise deal are top secret.
Adidas is also cashing in on the clamour, selling Oasis-branded football shirts (£85), bucket hats (£40), jackets (£100) and tops with a new version of its slogan: “The band with the 3 stripes”.
The Gallaghers aren’t the only ones making a few quid. Sales of Oasis-inspired products from independent brands have jumped 150% in the UK and 230% globally since the tour was announced last August, according to the wholesale platform Faire.
Bucket hats are up 275%, parkas are back in style, and searches for Liam Gallagher-themed goods have soared fivefold, it said. Google searches for “Oasis fashion UK” have surged 180% in the last 30 days.
By the time the Gallaghers finally step on stage in Cardiff on 4 July, it will be 16 years since they last performed together, after an acrimonious bust-up before a gig at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in August 2009.
Grimes described the comeback as one of the great global music events of recent decades, alongside world tours by Michael Jackson, Madonna and Taylor Swift. “Will it have any cultural significance? I don’t know,” he said. “But it will certainly be up there in the pantheon of entertainment greats.
“Whether you like the Gallagher brothers or not, you can’t take away from the fact that this has generated a huge amount of media for them, it’s generated a huge amount of money for them, and it has put them in the realms of [other] global megastars.”
In typical Liam style, the frontman this month dismissed claims that some fans were doubtful the gigs would happen. “There [sic] not fans there just little dickheads me n Rkid are on it,” he posted on X.
The 41-date world tour will span Britain, Ireland, Canada, the US, Mexico, Japan, Australia and Argentina before ending in Brazil on 23 November – if the truce holds.
