One week after the first show of their long-awaited reunion tour, and ahead of their first home town shows in Manchester this weekend, Oasis are taking over the UK charts.
The band have placed three albums in the UK Top 5. Singles compilation Time Flies… 1994–2009 is No 1 for the first time since it was released in June 2010. Their second album, 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? rises 12 places to No 2, and their 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe jumps 22 spots to No 4.
In the singles chart, Acquiesce – originally the B-side to their first No 1 single, 1995’s Some Might Say, peaks at No 17 after making its stand-alone chart debut at No 40 last week.
Acquiesce is the second song performed in full on their current tour set list, after the instrumental introduction Fuckin’ in the Bushes and Hello. With the lyrics “Because we need one another / We believe in one another”, it has been adopted by fans as an anthem of fraternal love between Liam and Noel Gallagher, despite Noel disagreeing with the interpretation.
The 1996 No 1 single Don’t Look Back in Anger reaches No 18, though hasn’t yet surpassed its most recent peak of No 9 last September, soon after the reunion was announced.
It also spent seven weeks in the chart in 2017 after being adopted as the unofficial anthem of Manchester in the wake of the terrorist attack on an Ariana Grande concert in the city that May. When Oasis perform the song on the current tour, the stage visuals feature yellow bumblebees in tribute to the city’s worker bee symbol.
Live Forever, which also lingered on the chart in the wake of the reunion news, rises to No 19.
After two nights in Cardiff last weekend, Oasis are set to perform five nights at Heaton Park in Manchester from tonight (11 July). Temperatures are expected to reach 31C on night one, prompting organisers to share a weather warning for the first outdoor show of the tour. Rules on bringing bottles into the ground have been relaxed, with ticketholders now permitted to carry 500ml of water in a sealed bottle and up to 200ml of sun cream.
Oasis posted: “Wear a (bucket) hat. Where possible stay in shade. Look after yourself and look after each other.”
Fans without tickets have been warned against attempting to get in for the sold-out shows after TikTok users claimed you could enter the park by swimming.
As in Cardiff last weekend, the city has been overrun by international visitors, with pubs, shops and even tattoo parlours reporting an uptick in business, while Liam Gallagher has voiced new announcements for the tram route that will take fans to the gig.
It is unlikely that fans will be disappointed: the first night of Cardiff earned unilateral five-star reviews in the British press. The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis called it “a triumph”.
